Originally Posted by
JeffE
For what it is worth, I have purchased other razors from this seller, Takeshi Aoki, and he is an excellent person to deal with -- an honorable gentleman in every sense. I heard about these tamahagane razors from him last month when he was waiting to receive them from Japan. Apparently, there are only three of them, and I don't know enough about them to say whether the price is fair or not for what he is selling. From the photos I saw, they were all in good to excellent condition, but not NOS. Even at that price, I was soooo tempted to take the plunge, but what kept me back is the same psychological problem I have with all super, super expensive razors, which is a fear that I will damage the blade while using it and so I won't end up using the razor at all!
One interesting thing Takeshi told me too -- apparently, the source he has in Japan ALSO has a tamahagane western straight razor make by KOSUKE IWASAKI himself!! Now, that probably isn't going to mean much to too many people, but from what I understand from those who follow this stuff, that's like having an original Van Gogh or something similar. God only knows what it would cost to purchase something like that, probably more than my car is worth.