What razors do I have / What the heck am I looking at?

[Legitshave]

Hey guys, new to shaving so I have a few questions.

So going through all the different listings on Ebay, and even on B&B I notice all of the different varieties of razors people put up. And I am confused.... What I mean is people say that this is a 1961 E2 Gillette Fat Boy (totally just made that up, no idea if thats real) how do they find the year the "E2" and how do they know its a fat boy (this doesnt just apply to fat boys, i find those to be pretty easy to recognize since they have a more unique look).

My reason for this question is that I just went shopping around at thrift shops and I came across a few razors. I bought 2 of them and from what I can tell they appear to be Gillette Superspeeds, one with a black handle, and the other all metal. But how do I know for sure, and how do I find out the rest of the stuff such as the year and all that good stuff?

Thanks!

 

[dcobranchi]

The date code on Gillette razors usually appears on the bottom of the base plate. There's a letter indicating the year and a number between 1 and 4 indicating the quater of the year. E 1 (your FB example) would be the 1st quarter of 1959 per the dating chart: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/US_Gillette_Dating_Information And, yes, there were Fatboys made that year.

As for identifying the razors, http://mr-razor.com is my goto site. Achim has some terrific razor pr0n. Superspeeds are here: http://mr-razor.com/Rasierer/One-Piece solid guard bar/solid guard bar.htm

 

[AndroiDad75]

Thanks dcobranchi. As a noob myself, this is very helpful. I went to a local antique shop today and saw a number of razors, but it's hard to tell what they are when you are right there in the store, when you are new that is. If I just keep looking at the pictures, maybe I can start to recognize them by sight.

Thanks.

 

[americanarmsdealer]

You'll get to where you don't even have to think about what razor you're looking at. I've been searching so long that even my wife recognizes certain razors in the wild. The above suggestions and links to the wiki and Achim's site are dead on. I've found no more exhaustive resource for wetshaving gear than those.