Thread: French Malarkey

Am I the only one who has been looking at these auctions, where they list the razors with the caption and thinking to myself, "well, thats some malarkey right there. “This razor has never been used, it is "as new" Obviously, some very fine restoration work, and I guess fine enough that nobody bothers to complain about the inaccuracy of the advert.
To prove my own point, I intend to bid on a few, even knowing. Damned razor obsession!

Antique 4 8 Straight Razor by w Pepys Made in 1800 — Mint Condition A Real Gem | eBay

The one thing that sticks out to me is the description "mint" contradicts the description "used"

Originally Posted by Magpie

Am I the only one who has been looking at these auctions, where they list the razors with the caption and thinking to myself, "well, thats some malarkey right there. [FONT="]“[/FONT]This razor has never been used, it is "as new" Obviously, some very fine restoration work, and I guess fine enough that nobody bothers to complain about the inaccuracy of the advert.
To prove my own point, I intend to bid on a few, even knowing. Damned razor obsession!

Antique 4 8 Straight Razor by w Pepys Made in 1800 — Mint Condition A Real Gem | eBay

Well, I guess as long as they have gents like you around to fall for the narrative, they have nothing to worry about, lol.....

There is/was a large family estate in Sheffield containing these razors, presumably from some family relation to the Raggs. Some of them seem to be original factory finishes, but a lot of them have well done crocus finishing that seems to be unoriginal, and some of them are just plainly reground. Zak and I have a feeling the collection was related to one of the later workers in Sheffield, hence the professional refinishing. But nothing definite.

All in all, this may be a case of this person just not knowing enough about razor finishes to be able to tell that they're not original and throwing terms around too loosely. Acknowledging that I haven't seen it in person, to me that Pepys looks like it's been refinished.

Some very nice razors this seller is offering..... Some are bringing a fair penny too.

I bought one of his razors on the cheap - under $20 shipped. Though I couldn't tell from the listing pictures, once I had it in hand it was obvious the blade had been refinished. The blade looked plain online, but in person you can very faintly see maybe 15% of an etching that was otherwise entirely removed.

Also the shoulder appears to have gotten a little thinned out, particularly down by the heel.

Not a big deal at that price, but I thought I'd confirm that this is the case with at least some of his razors.

I always find it humorous how commercial outfits wax poetically about their products going way beyond a little exaggeration and it doesn't bother anyone. Folks actually expect it. But, when some poor soul on Eboy does it, it's like some terrible crime.

More than likely this thread will help their sales.

Based on the original pictures from the initial auction handling the razors, the seller is not doing anything to the razors as far as restoring, and the razors have been in a single collection likely from a family in Sheffield. Most of the blades coming out of the auction seem to be the real deal as far as original condition. This guy has been buying up lots like crazy and putting them to immediate resale on ebay, and I have no idea why his realized prices have been skyrocketing (e.g. he has sold single razors for $200-300, where those same razors came from the auction house in lots of 4 or 5 for a total price of less than 200).

His nice stuff has been going too rich for me. I did point out to him that one of his Ragg 'razors' was a microtome and explained that to him.
He responded with thanks and seemed enthusiastic about the history of his razors.
Oh well. I recommend looking at his pictures to decide. They are pretty good, I suppose. Reasonable shipping, etc.

Good luck!