A kind razor collector friend pointed the auction out on one of the European bays. An all-black/tarnished OT-type razor with an unusual and pretty handle pattern. Branded Solinger Stahlwaren with the name Ernst Steinhökel RHEYDT noted.
Well, the set received no love from the Ebay community so I won the auction at the starting price of 23 EUR because I was bored, it looked fun and I liked the leather case.
Then, while awaiting delivery I googled what I could on the razor. I found out that it likely was produced by the company Solinger Stahlwaren, one of the many razor producers in the Solingen region before the war. And then resold (and rebranded) through the Ernst Steinhökel cutlery company, located in the town of Mönchengladbach in Rhine-Westphalia in the Western-most part of Germany. The company names were all I could find.
Well, the razor arrived today and I immediately did the old tinfoil/baking powder/boling water trick (twice over) which again proved its wonders. It turned out very nice and with seemingly all silver plating intact.
And then imagine my surprise when the razor turned out to be a Rotbart model! Wow!
I really hope that someone will be able to share some more insights to this!
Oh, on top, I gave the case interior a really good cleaning and applied leather fat and color to the exterior. And after this even the case turned out quite nice. I have a thing for lather cases.
In closing, I didn’t try an OT shave since my early days, and back then I failed miserably with nicks and cuts to follows. But I have faith that my technique now 3 years later is much better. We’ll see, don’t expect this to join my rotation. But very fun and, as it turns out, maybe quite unique!
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