Thread: Old razor: which one of us is going to buy it and try it?

So I am poking around the old Ebay and recentley ive stumbled across a lot of really old razors, some 16th or 17th century types.

So heres one I thought I would share and wonder which one of us is brave enough to buy it and try it.

VINTAGE STRAIGHT RAZOR VERY EARLY 1600 - 1700 CENTURY CHINESE RAZOR!! VERY RARE! | eBay

These razors are always on the bay and are not genuine, I doubt anybody here will bid, but you never know.

As my Scottish grandpa used to say, I hae me doots about those too. Seems to me any genuine 17th-century article like that would either be beat to hell in a manner appropriate for a 400 to 500 year-old thing, safely ensconced in a museum, or really bloody expensive.

However, genuine or not, I'm kind of curious about what shaving with a blade shaped like that would be like assuming of course the thing would take an edge. If one of them looks to be going cheap one of these days, I may snap it up just out of curiosity.

Could this be the start of a new disorder: FARAD? Fake Antique RAD.

The only genuine "old" razor ive ever seen on ebay was an authenticated Georgian bone and pearl handled straight razor.

But here's another of the suspect ancient razor.

18th Century (?) Straight Razor | eBay

I've said it before on other threads about these razors, but I'll say it again here. While not as old as they are reported as being, they are still possibly be from the late 19th/ early 20th century and made for the booming tourist trade in pre-Communist China. This style of razor was and is still used for ritual head shaving by Buddhist monks. Whether these razors in ebay are from this time period is still debatable, there is still the chance that they are.

One of the less than savory firearms paraphernalia purveyors was selling remarkably similar "HAND MADE ANTIQUE 1700's RAZORS FOR REENACTORS ETC" for $9.95 ea a while back. He had a large number of them for sale and they were all slightly different.

I figure they are made for the tourist trade in some back alley shop in Pakistan or China.

Here's a pic of an "original". Appears to have been somewhat "hollow forged"

I'm pretty sure that the second eBay auction is for an item listed as authentic and sold by Robert Doyle. At the very least I've seen Doyle selling one like it as an 18th century item.

Personally, I'd be betting that the second one is an antique fake antique and the first one is merely a fake antique.

Well. It seems like someone bought it

No the smilie is just a smilie. It wasnt me

I think that razor is fake! Literally yeaterday I saw another one, same form, same bogus patina, in an Illinois antique store. It was also claimed as US Civil War. It was priced at 40 bucks.

I think Smoky Mountain Knife Works is still selling them for about $15 , each . If you buy a dozen or more you get a discount .