Thread: Antique dealers....or crack addicts?

I went into an antique shop today in Vancouver - and the dealer had about 8 straight razors. One red imp - cracked scales, tarnished to hell and gone, a Queen Cutter (WH Morley), plus a TOTALLY rust covered (it looked like an old tailpipe) Boker - price: $60 for the rusted Boker, $80 for the red imp, and $100 for the Queen Cutter. I LITERALLY laughed out loud.

I told him that those are $20 to $30 MAX on-line. He popped the gum in his mouth and said "no way..."

I walked out shaking my head.

Another shop had three - an old Wade and Butcher plus a couple of others - $55 each - because the scales were "french ivory" - which I translate as "yellow celluloid"


Are these guys high??? or what????

Barry

I don't think so. I'd hate to smoke crack and then have to sit in an antique shop.

What we tend to forget is that antique dealers have the element of time on their
side. They get plenty of traffic, their overhead tends to be low, so they can just
put the razors out there and wait. They are better at sitting in their chairs and
waiting than evaluating razors, so they just put a high price on them and wait.

Most likely, these shop owners have heard there is growing resurgence in straight razors and are trying to add some coin to their pockets by raising the price. You were probably not the first or even second person to walk into their shop and inquire about straight razors. So, they see an interest and adjust their prices up. I have noticed the same thing here in Arizona, once I could find razors at great prices, now not so much and the quality of razors have declined. Chipped blades, almost completely rusted, etc going for $50 and up.

I went to Vancouver's flea market (BC, not WA).
It was the same.
All razors were advertised for $40, $45, $50+, despite their really poor conditions.
And they wouldn't negotiate more than $5 or $10 off!

Good points for the time (low over-head) and interest increase.

At one time you could walk into a shop and make an offer and the owner knew little about the mdse and probably met your price to move things. Those days are pretty much over. Most of these guys have books on valuating everything under the sun. They cater mostly to collectors so eventually they will find someone to buy at their price even if it takes 20 years.

I was there this morning - that's where I saw the wade and butcher - full hollow - not bad, but not $50.

Barry

Originally Posted by christophe

I went to Vancouver's flea market (BC, not WA).
It was the same.
All razors were advertised for $40, $45, $50+, despite their really poor conditions.
And they wouldn't negotiate more than $5 or $10 off!

Good points for the time (low over-head) and interest increase.

You can get much better deals here in the SRP classifieds , and shave ready , to boot . Don't waste your time with stubborn uninformed dealers .

The biggest problem is that the dealer's are pricing off ebay, and we all know how inflated that soul sucking black hole can be.

Here in Idaho the antique shops are all sold out and they know that the demand is out there. So now what is available is way over-priced.

I agree, in the time I've been straight shaving (maybe 3-4 years) antique store prices have skyrocketed. I could once pick up some nice, quality vintage blades in good condition for $20, and that was up to about 6months ago. Back then there were a few "out there" dealers who'd charge $60-$80+ for garbage, but not many. Nowadays, no more. I haven't been in a shop in months that had prices lower than top-dollar retail. It kinda makes me sad.

On the other hand, for some reason, I've also seen a lot more quality razors. Maybe dealers know they're in demand so they look for them now. In my past few visits I've seen maybe 20 razors I'd have considered buying in the past when their prices weren't $80-$150. Luckily, I have enough razors so that I don't feel such a strong need to buy at that price.

I've seen a similar rise in the price of safety razors too. I recently bought one for when I'm traveling and when I used to see buckets full for $5 each, now there are fewer and in the $20-$40 range.