I've had this beautiful Wardonia razor for a couple of years now and I actually thought that it was a Gillette when I bought it until I cleaned it up. I find it funny just how similar it is the 1920's Gillette old types. Does anybody else collect these and are they very collectible or is collectible a relative term towards the individual?
Wardonia of Sheffield razor
- Thread starter ShaveMark
- Start date
At first glance, I would say that its better made than some of the old style ball end gillette's. The finish looks like a chrome and I bet there is no hair line cracks in the barrel. I bet there is more metal to it. I wouldnt mind having one to try out. I am not saying that I dont appreciate an old gillette but I think they cut down in material deliberately, on some models. When the razor breaks, buy a new one. back in the old days, some of the old style razors were like a plastic cheep one from the 80's. They gave them away free with a bar of soap in the 40's. One thing you cant ignore, Gillette made the first one.
It's somewhat collectable since most of Wardonia's razors are bakelite. or mostly bakelite with metal head caps. All-metal Wardonia's don't surface often on Ebay, that's for sure.
I have a bakelite Wardonia but it won't accept standard DE blades. I wonder if the same holds true with the one pictured above?
Only about an Inch in length. I thought at first it was designed as a promotional tool, but it turns out it was designed for women.
Plenty of the bakealite razors in antique shops over here, but i have not come accross a metal one.
- Thread starter
- #7
Wow, so nobody has seen a metal Wardonia before? Ebay has 2 razors and both are from Great Brittan and both are bakelite. This razor does seem to have a nicer mirror finish than most of my Gillettes. Maybe this thing is a little more collectible than I first thought.
Looks to my untrained eye that it would take a standard DE blade. Have you tried it out yet? If so how does it shave?
Wow, so nobody has seen a metal Wardonia before? Ebay has 2 razors and both are from Great Brittan and both are bakelite. This razor does seem to have a nicer mirror finish than most of my Gillettes. Maybe this thing is a little more collectible than I first thought.
I've seen all-metal Wardonia razors but like I said, they don't surface often. The case isn't original to the razor. The Wardonia Razor history web site appears to have gone dead but here's an archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20060813052028/www.wardoniarazors.co.uk/SR22.htm
- Thread starter
- #10
I just put a standard DE blade in it and it's fits perfect.
The Wardonia Wiki only talks about bakelite razors and sets....it doesn't say anything about all metal razors which is better for the collecting aspect. Anyway here are a few different shots of the Wardonia, enjoy.
The Wardonia Wiki only talks about bakelite razors and sets....it doesn't say anything about all metal razors which is better for the collecting aspect. Anyway here are a few different shots of the Wardonia, enjoy.
Wow, so nobody has seen a metal Wardonia before? Ebay has 2 razors and both are from Great Brittan and both are bakelite. This razor does seem to have a nicer mirror finish than most of my Gillettes. Maybe this thing is a little more collectible than I first thought.
Awesome score I think, but I collect Wardonia. I just paid a truck-load-o-bucks for a Black Prince set. I wonder though if Wardonia made the all metal razors themselves or contracted out to Laurel (also in Sheffield I believe). Looks like a Laurel I have, if only I can locate it! And I also think that isn't the correct case.
I saw that the site was gone a week or so ago. In fact, I was at the site as it slowly disappeared - page there, page gone. Thanks for the webarchive link, forgot to look there. I haven't looked at it all, but it doesn't look like the latest is all there. sadness... For instance, the last time I looked at it, he was talking about his Wardonia book.
I worry about the Schick site....
-jim
I hope you enjoy that Black Prince set. Don't see them that often and that complete. I had my eye on it but was broke at the time that one ended. I was so disgusted, I deleted it from my watch list when it was at $60-something.
Yeah, the Wardonia web site was last archived Dec. 26, 2007 so the archive is missing a good bit. Google's archive has the whole site but none of the images, which makes it useless.
That was painful - especially for me! - but I've been losing some items I really wanted of late and I didn't want to lose this one. I had a boatload of money sitting there. I was going to be the last bidder, I assure you. And you know, it's two nice fatboys.
We should probably move to the razor economy. Dinner is one 40's Super Speed.
I wonder what happened to the chap and website. I was actually going to email him to talk about wardonia and see how much he wanted for his "book". I have one of the catalogs, so that is what I will gone on to build the collection.
-jim
I feel you on that. But I guess if I had all the money I needed and could buy any razor I wanted and saw, that'd take the fun out of the hunt. As far as Ebay goes, I've had to control myself because it really is similar to gambling... you're betting X amount of dollars hoping you win the prize. For a brief period, I found myself buying anything and everything and realized I'd spent a grand on junk. Now I'm picky and particular. I think of the very nice, pristine and mint razors I could have gotten for a grand instead of junk. There's really only 1 razor right now that I'd go bat crap crazy on and spend wayyyyyyyyyyy more than its worth.. and I'll let you know what it is once I've obtained it.
We should probably move to the razor economy. Dinner is one 40's Super Speed.
That's funny. Going to the theater to see a movie? That'll be a 1 Fatboy. Want popcorn too? That'll be a Fatboy and a cased Slim.
