Thread: Vintage Coti?

Hmmm, that is a lot of $ for what it was. My best coticule out of over a dozen is one recently harvested ( 2 years ago) from Ardennes Coticule and imported by The Perfect Edge. An 8x3 combo. I don't know what layer it came from but here are a couple of shots. Beats the pants off any other coticule I have honed on be they vintage or recent and that is over a dozen.

I admit I've paid much more money for similar stones. Value is sometimes just a matter of what at least one person will pay. Generally, I pay more for unusual sizes, thicknesses, and coloring, and also to prevent a stone from being offered up to somebody else who wouldn't pay as much. And I'll always try to pay a premium or full list price to a trusted seller, especially one who has sold me quality before. But eBay isn't a trusted seller to me.

To explain, here's why I would have gladly paid that for that stone (it wasn't me, but I would have). First, it's a natural combo, which I prefer just for looks, feel, and relative rarity. Second, I believe it's vintage, because they don't cut them this size and thickness anymore (that I've seen, anyway). I don't think vintage coticules are any better, but I like the non-standard sizes and big thicknesses they come in, like this one. Third, the 5" X 2.5" X 1" is my favorite size for coticules, perfect for hand-held honing. Fourth, I love the unusual layer of coticule mixed in with the blue. I have a natural in almost this size, with very similar layering/coloring. The coticule layer is kosher, and it's listed in the Wiki Hone DB. It was no bargain, but I love it. It puts no better edge on a razor than other coticules, but it does have a very particular feel when honing that I really like.

None of these things make the hone listed any better as a hone, they are only to try to explain why I'd pay that myself, not to justify it for others to pay.

The other coticule with the $430 BIN wouldn't be worth it to me. Similar size to the first, wonderful and unusual layering/coloring, but not worth anything close to $430 - to me personally. I wouldn't think someone was crazy for paying the BIN, but I think they could do better. If it doesn't sell and comes down substantially, I'll definitely be bidding on it, just for the size and color.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Hmmm, that is a lot of $ for what it was. My best coticule out of over a dozen is one recently harvested ( 2 years ago) from Ardennes Coticule and imported by The Perfect Edge. An 8x3 combo. I don't know what layer it came from but here are a couple of shots. Beats the pants off any other coticule I have honed on be they vintage or recent and that is over a dozen.

Jimmy, I've said that time and time again. It has nothing to do with Vintage. It's the stone, period...Vintage is a relative term with Cot's since they are 500 million years old. Yes, Yes, I've heard that all the good ones have been mined out...I don't think so....
FWIW, Rob just opened a mine that was shut in the 60's.....so, could those be considered Vintage....Hmmmmm

Originally Posted by zib

FWIW, Rob just opened a mine that was shut in the 60's.....so, could those be considered Vintage....Hmmmmm

Rich, that just got me to thinking .... in the 1950s men still wore their hair short, got shaves in barber shops and things were as they had been for decades. Barbers honed razors on coticules. At least the ones I knew in Newark did.

In the mid '60s young people began wearing beards and long hair. By the '70s barbers were hurting as the new hip look took hold and even older folks started with the new style. Between that and the growth of 'unisex hair salons' the old traditional barber shops began to die out.

My guess is those mines closed because of the changing business curve in the barbering industry. Not because they ran out of good rock . I could be wrong though, I've been wrong a couple of times before.