Thread: Question of "worth"

Thank you all for the help! As I said I tend to collect many different things without necessarily knowing what I'm doing.

I've ordered a straight razor set actually so I can view a new one and get the feel for it. Aside from that I'll keep my eye open, there are a few I'm currently keeping track of on e-bay however it's sometimes hard to determine the true condition through the pictures.

Hopefully I can get my hands on a cheap one as a practice restoration while I do my research! I'll post some pictures if it ends up a success.

There isn't inherent 'worth', I think the correct answer to your question is
- if you plan to resell it, how much you can get for it
- if you plan to keep it, how much are you willing to spend on it

On the first point you can learn a bit by looking at books and all possible venues for sales.

Since you have no experience whatsoever, you should buy one razor on ebay for as much as you are comfortable loosing. Don't buy cracked/chipped/broken/worn blades. Then have a go at it trying to make it nice and shiny, and then shaving sharp. That'll give you an idea how much work does the process involve. Once that's all done you'll have better idea what to do about the second one.

just to re-iterate and ad some words of caution to what others have said. I think the most important thing here is learning to discriminate junk from the rest. The problem with razors is that there are 1001 and 1 ways that a nice looking razor can be made useless or at least value-less. Like others said. Temper issues, cracks, warps, pitting, "mods", can all be deceptive and hard to spot, yet detrimental. so just take head and ask questions.

Example i recently bought a razor off the bay that the angle the shots were taken at belied the fact that infact it was much shorter than its original length. Fine for me to shave with, but certainly makes it less valueable.

my 2c

After really thinking about the question I first asked I've decided it isn't exactly how I wanted to word it. While condition is a factor it wasn't the full extent of what I hoped to get across.

I browsed through the clubs on the site as JimmyHAD suggested. This made me realize my actual question was how do I know if the razor has any history to it (which still isn't the best way to say it). The clubs gave me a basic idea, but telling the difference between the countless "solingens," "sheffields," etc. is difficult.

Can anyone recommend somewhere that I may do some personal research on the history and meanings of each brand, model, era, production city?

Thanks, I hope this clarifies what I was looking for but I realize since I'm brand new to this it may seem frustrating trying to help me but that's why I came to you all

The questions you ask seem simple enough however you could read books on the subject so getting easy answers here ain't gonna happen.

If you want to collect something you need to do research and become very well versed about the thing you want to collect and then decide what about the object is important to you. Info on the subject can be researched in small part on this site however you need to go way further. I'm not aware of any books on straight razors though there are some sources out there. You just need to roll up your sleeves and get down and dirty and find it.

We here are more concerned with use and repair than pure collecting.

Originally Posted by ats200

Can anyone recommend somewhere that I may do some personal research on the history and meanings of each brand, model, era, production city?

Unfortunately there isn't much out there. The best book I've found on the general history of straight razors is out of print. That is Robert A. Doyle's "Collecting Straight Razors." You can find a copy on the bay or through internet vintage book vendors. They used to go for $35 to $50 bucks for the paper back. It gives an overview but not specific to brands. The other books I know of are either price lists and out of date for that purpose but they do name various brands.

Goin's manual gives many trademarks and the dates they started and ended along with the place they were made. It gets into knives and razors. You can still get that at Knife World AFAIK. Forum member manah has some great resources on his site if you go here and follow the links. Stuff on various old companies. Neil Miller seems to come up with great stuff on companies both well known and obscure but I don't know where he gets his info.

The above refers to the early stuff, for the"hot" modern collectibles like the dubl ducks, Filarmonica, C-Mon, Puma etcetra, they are pretty mysterious. Those people went to work and made and peddled their goods and never dreamed that anyone would want to look back at what they were doing for history's sake. For the dubl ducks thebigspendur probably knows as much as anyone. More than you'll find in any book. In the razor clubs duck section he talks about the Bresnick, Bresduck and Pearlducks. Straight razor history is an esoteric field I guess.

Thanks Jimmy, I have actually been trolling the forums as much as possible to find this stuff and was beginning to realize exactly what you say, it just wasn't something that was really recorded.

I'm starting to get a feel for the answer to my question though just based on the collections of others and picking up on the manufacture dates and styles. Who knew there was so much to learn about the history of shaving? Not something many people really ever think about.

I wanted to bump this thread so some of the newer members can read through one of my concerns when beginning a few months ago. I think this thread helped me a lot in venture into vintage razors