Hi, I just got a old shaving kit from my grandparents. Can someone help me identify the items? Model, price, year, any info would help!
I posted a tread on the wicked_edge sub on reddit as well. One person commented that this was made by George Brittain.
Link to the pictures.
Any help would be really appreciated!
Thank you in advance.
Welcome to SRP. I'm not sure if that is a Brittain, very well may be. Somebody will be along who can ID it for sure. Might be Gillette DEs, or maybe something else. Great old straight though. We call that pre-1800 stuff 'stub tails' and some of us shave with them. If that is your intention it can probably be brought to shave ready by the look of it.
Wonderful set. There are people here who can get that shave ready if you want. If not, awesome collectible.
I am not sure about the mark on the razor. Just looking at the general shape of it, it falls into the very old category. It is late 1700's perhaps. I am not a historian by any stretch. I would hang onto that for sure. Any old heirloom piece is solid gold in my books. Welcome to the forum.
WOW! This thing is old!!! Man, welcome to SRP, go check your tetanus vaccine, hone this straight and tell us how you feel!!! <<<KIDDING>>
Sorry for not having much to say about the safety razors but the obvious.
Take good care of the box, do not try to vamp it, IMHO just a dry cloth and some rennaissance wax is enough. The hardware can be salvaged and restored.
The straight razor... do not mess with it, pack it very well and send it - no doubt - to a very well reccomended professional (the guys here can point a good one for you), and explain to just neutralize the active rust and hone. Leave the patina as it is.
very nice old kit
+1 on the renwax rejuvenation it will come up a treat & since it is museum quality
Ripped off a pic in case the link goes south in the future ............
Attachment 179319
Wow - beautiful set...yes...that is a George Brittain...very rare, and that blade looks very early 19th century or late 18th century...has the iron cross...nice!
Thank you so much for your replies! I already love this forum!
I will upload some more pictures tomorrow, if there is something particular you want me to take picture of please tell me :)
Until then this is the info I now got;
A reddit user has done an incredible job identifying this piece. The information he provided makes a lot of sense.
Attachment 179321
This means that Rezdog might in fact be correct. Late 1700s sounds about right.
I definitely want to renovate it. I do not want to use the stub tail. (Hope I got that right) Not the 1940s razors either, I rather buy I new one. This kit already means something to me, I would rather pay for a new razor. I have one problem and that is that I live in Norway. So there is very few experts on this area in my country. However I saw that you have a "nordic" forum here. I going to try my luck there and see if anyone knows about someone from Scandinavia. Or is there something else I can do?
Yes, the stamp does look like a Brittain, doesn't have the Anchor though...for comparison pierrefley, here is a pic of another George Brittain Iron Cross straight razor, from the early 19th century.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...lemans-den.jpg
Sweet! Nice tramp art box, ivory handle brush and straight. Bet he made the box.
I wouldn't be afraid to use it to be honest or any vintage. My best razors are my vintage ones. Oh and you have a couple of great guys who know there stuff on here from Norway. Bernard being one.Quote:
Originally Posted by pierrefley
The safety razors are both Gillette's. The wider handled one is known as a Fat Handle Tech, and the other one looks like an Aluminum Tech. They are very mild shavers. You should give them a try.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BeJay
Quote:
Originally Posted by cosperryan
That is so good to hear. I just posted a tread in the Scandinavian part of the forum. I am after the sharpest razors, I am used to use safety razors (Edwin Jagger DE89BA11BL), but it just broke. I was thinking of buying a shavette instead :)
Edit: Some closeup pictures of the blade. This thing is extremely sharp still today..
If youre looking for the sharpest I'd suggest Feathe DE Blades. They are about the sharpest you'll find and they are great in mild mannered safety razors. The Parker SR1 is a good entry level shavette to start out with.
This is exactly the ones I use! :)
I think birnando is in norway, drop him a PM, i am sure he will help you.
Birnando thats his name. I don't know why I was saying bernard.
Birnando is an expert honer and has an ad in the SRP classifieds. He lives in Norway. Shoot him a PM and he will get back to you. I respect your reluctance to shave with the stub tail. Get a new razor and after you get the hang of straight razor shaving maybe you'll change your mind. I shave with both of these from the 1790s once in awhile ;Quote:
Originally Posted by cosperryan
Attachment 179342Attachment 179343Attachment 179344 Attachment 179345
Clean the safety razor as trade goods for later, "Made in England" usually is a higher trade value than local made..
~Richard
Love to see these old razors. Great historic treasure trove from your grandparents to pass along down to your children. Maybe a good story can go with it?
Mike
Here are the new pictures. I absolutely love the box as well, it reminds me of a miniature treasure chest, which it actually is!
Attachment 179612Attachment 179613Attachment 179614Attachment 179615Attachment 179616Attachment 179617Attachment 179618Attachment 179630Attachment 179631Attachment 179632Attachment 179633Attachment 179634
I have contacted a person on this forum that are located in Norway and might be able to help renovate the kit, so this could get really interesting.
