Thread: Really a bargain for a Tamahagane razor...

I was amazed to see that, really a bargain:

New! TAMAHAGANE High-end Straight Razor: IWASAKI-SANJOU | eBay

No good there's only 1 available, I would want to have a 7 day set or nothing

This guy again..... I see the price is into the stratosphere already. You'd have to be rich to spring for one, but a seven day set? Better be planning on winning the lottery!

I wonder where he got it from. I was originally told Iwasaki's Tamahagne items were pretty much sold to his dedicated collectors and never made it to stores and he had a very long waiting list. About 10 years ago they were selling for around $1,200 straight from the maker but you couldn't get one.

There is one thing about this seller. He is located in Fukushima, in the region, where the Nuclear power station accident recently happened. So, buying a razor you recieve radiation as a bonus.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I wonder where he got it from. I was originally told Iwasaki's Tamahagne items were pretty much sold to his dedicated collectors and never made it to stores and he had a very long waiting list. About 10 years ago they were selling for around $1,200 straight from the maker but you couldn't get one.

They're cheaper than that now. There are a few shops online with them in stock here in Japan, and the prices are running around double the Swedish steel versions--so from 60,000JPY for a size one to about 100,000 JPY for a size two (though the size two is incredibly hard to find).

$4200 is, frankly, taking the p**s.

Years ago I used to be doing union ironwork clearing like $500 a week. Decent money back then for a blue collar guy. I would open the Sunday NY Times and see ads by Cartier for watches that were thousands of dollars. Stuff like that. I used to wonder who in the hell had the kind of money to spend to buy such things. I think CEOs only made 100 times what their average employee earned back then. Not the 400 times customary nowadays. If I had it I wouldn't go for it but there are people out there to whom 4 Gs for a razor would be like buying a gallon of milk to the average Joe.

Am I the only one that thinks if you spend $4200 on a razor shipping should be free?

Jimmy, I agree with the basic point that a high price is not necessarily something to criticize. However, this seller has inflated the current market price of that specific razor by at least 500%. His markup is probably somewhere in the ballpark of $3200, and that's being generous with things like taxes and assuming that he's buying from a retailer. It most assuredly is more than that if he's buying wholesale or from the maker.

So while I can't, on priciple, disagree with high prices, I can say that man right there is selling at a difficult-to-justify markup.

Originally Posted by wqueiroz

I was amazed to see that, really a bargain:

New! TAMAHAGANE High-end Straight Razor: IWASAKI-SANJOU | eBay

I guess this is how there getting even with us for winning WW2-If you buy this I have a bridge you might want to own. I would bet that we have members right here that could make that razor for less that $400,and no body could tell the difference,the talent here is equal
to these guys easily,they may not want to blow there own horns but I'm sure it can be done.