Thread: Travel razor stamped "sterilized NYC USA swastika in the middle

I recently bought a travel shaving brush, the bottom of the brush is stamped with…" Sterilized… NYC… USA… With a
swastika stamped in the middle of the handle. I wonder if anyone could please help me find out who the manufacturer was
and any other information that you might have… Thank you… Richard Andrews

Without a name on it you are probably out of luck. That's the reverse of the Nazi Swastika which is a common symbol from Native Americans and some Eastern Religions. It would depend if that was a symbol used by the maker to designate the brand or just something he used. Maybe a dedicated brush collector will come by and have one similar.

Otherwise you could check out the N.Y Public Library and run down brush makers in the early-mid 20th century located in N.Y.C

When the brush was made it probably wasn't a "Swastika" and I think you are making a leap to which direction it is "Turned"

The symbol is very ancient and has many different meanings...

Quite a few of the NY companies used Native American names and symbols for their razor stuff so the odds are leaning in that direction

As mentioned, this is an ancient symbol and prior to WWII was used by numerous companies and was, among others, a good luck sign. I have dozens of postcards that have them, I have an adjustable wrench with the sign. The, as I remember, Oklahoma Nat Guard unit that served in WWI used this in their patch. I will try to post some of the above stated. But as gssixgun says it is very old and not NAZI

I am no historian by any means but I do think that you can look at the other end of the spectrum and realize that during world war 2 there was a large National Socialist Party in the United States who supported the Nazi Party. While these guys are absolutely correct it was an ancient symbol you can look at it from the other end and see that during world war 2 if the piece is from that era that that could be a Nazi symbol.

One more thing, in general the old ancient Nazi symbol when it was used for religious and good luck purposes was usually reversed.

more pictures with symbol. Same direction of points.
These cards are all from 1909 and 1910 well before the Nazi's anywhere.

see 45th Infantry Division (United States) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
for the patch of OK nat guard prior to WWII

I find it absolutely incredible that such an ancient symbol that goes back to before the Roman Empire was turned into such a symbol of hatred an intolerance.

Although we have associatd the swastika with nazism, it is an ancient symbol, quite popular to almost all ancient civilizations (from India, to Ancient Greece, Rome or the Vikings).
For the record, there is a beautiful building in Athens city centre, designed by the famous architect Ernst Ziller in 1878,which used to be the estate of the -also- famous archeologist Heinrich Schliemann. The building is decorated with swastikas on the floors and the fence and many passing people wonder if it was build during German occupation!
Now the building in open as a numismatic museum.(NUMISMATIC MUSEUM ATHENS)