Thread: Nice W&B, Buut...

Nice W&B out on Ebay, I am sure you guys have seen:

Straight Razor Wade Butcher w B 30 mm Wide Sheffield England | eBay

I asked a question about the blade, and he offered to sell it to me for $700! I suggested that the price may be a bit high, but he insisted that he sells them for that price all the time.



Is the market really supporting these kinds of prices?

The mark on the blade is pretty strange. "Blank For Concaving". It's like it was a template or something. I would not get to close unless someone I trust assured me that all would be fine, and then it would be just the price that scares me. I have bought some pretty grand razors for quite a bit less.

Ummm, I don't think so for that price.


Mike

Originally Posted by RezDog

The mark on the blade is pretty strange. "Blank For Concaving". It's like it was a template or something. I would not get to close unless someone I trust assured me that all would be fine, and then it would be just the price that scares me. I have bought some pretty grand razors for quite a bit less.

Yes - I know that blade, it hadn't reached the final stages in the grinding process, massive big blade, near wedge, very rare blade without a doubt, never seen one like it, but as a shaver, would be like shaving with Thor's Hammer...it is in very nice condition, if I remember it is 10/8, saw it a year ago.

Originally Posted by Aldwyn

I asked a question about the blade, and he offered to sell it to me for $700! I suggested that the price may be a bit high, but he insisted that he sells them for that price all the time.



Is the market really supporting these kinds of prices?

It may be a language problem, but if you look at the seller's history he most definitely isn't "selling them for that price all the time". He's already listed it once for over 1k and didn't get any takers.
The sanding work on the blade is amateurish (well I see so called 'pros' put out similar level of quality, so perhaps "poor" is better adjective) so I don't think it should sell for a lot of money but you never know.

I personally would not take less than $700 for that if it is that size, but I would also have dropped the $175 or so to have the blade resurfaced by someone who knows what they are doing and have the blade mounted on some w&b correct black or trans yellow scales with scavenged period washers. Even though it is rust free and in scales, I consider it a restoration project. Buyers also have to be realistic about 10/8 Sheffield blades. You get roughly one shot every year and a half or so to get one on there. His timing stinks btw, should have had the auction at the end of April. That lack of judgement will leave hundreds off the sale price..... Dumb.

Originally Posted by kcb5150

I personally would not take less than $700 for that if it is that size, but I would also have dropped the $175 or so to have the blade resurfaced by someone who knows what they are doing and have the blade mounted on some w&b correct black or trans yellow scales with scavenged period washers. Even though it is rust free and in scales, I consider it a restoration project. Buyers also have to be realistic about 10/8 Sheffield blades. You get roughly one shot every year and a half or so to get one on there. His timing stinks btw, should have had the auction at the end of April. That lack of judgement will leave hundreds off the sale price..... Dumb.

The lack of judgment of the bidders (probably all guys who are new to the hobby) will bring the price hundreds of dollars over what a blade that has been dremeled to death is worth.

Originally Posted by Aldwyn

Nice W&B out on Ebay, I am sure you guys have seen:

Straight Razor Wade Butcher w B 30 mm Wide Sheffield England | eBay

I asked a question about the blade, and he offered to sell it to me for $700! I suggested that the price may be a bit high, but he insisted that he sells them for that price all the time.



Is the market really supporting these kinds of prices?

So he has many of those? He is one lucky guy.

I would not say it is dremeled to death. The grind lines on the tang are still intact, the stamp is intact, and it shows no outward visual evidence of overheating. It just needs to be put in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, even at this point. There is nothing there that cannot be dealt with.... 10/8 Sheffield blades are some of the worst to do half assed restos on, they are visually really unforgiving to sloppy work. I maintain that if it were done properly and it is indeed 10/8 the price is not off base at all. Chances are if someone splurged for the thing they are keeping it anyway so you have to factor that in... 10/8 are just really desirable ... Someone on another forum sent an unsolicited pm to me last year for one of mine that he saw offering $1100. I declined, because I would not find a nicer example if I spent years trying... The only ones that are out there to be found at semi-reasonable rates are the wostenholms and even those are drying up. The biggest sin of the blade up now isn't even the sloppy work, it is the fact that it is visually uninteresting, albeit you would expect that from a blank...

Not really, it's more ppl bid what they can afford at any given moment and that is one time of year where liquidity can be rather high for certain ppl...