Thread: Auction wins

WTH! I am doing ebay sweden from now on...

You're welcome to try it. The site is www.tradera.com but I warn you that it really does suck. Most sellers only put up a blurry pic, and the description is usually "see pic for details"... Also, most sellers only accept bank transfers to their Swedish bank accounts, or payment via the (crappy) Swedish equivalent of PayPal, called Payson.

and it's in swedish how is razor in swedish?
I think our best bet may be to wait for Nicholas to post them in BST - i remember his last razor was at a great price too - never understood why it took so long to sell....

Ok, the shaving box arrived in the mail today. Here are my first thoughts and comments on the content:

The DE razors were both in near mint condition, one Gillette slim adjustable with all the paint still on the numbers and nice clicking from the mechanism when you adjust it. The Gillette tech is an English model, with no date code. The adjustable has the code J4, which would put it in the 4th quarter of 1964, I believe.

The straight razors are so-so. None of them is even close to "mint" condition.

The Bengall needs to have the scales replaced. I think they have already been replaced once, since the rivets don't look that good, and the wedge and scales are so-so. The edge is chipped in two places at the toe end, and I will need to hone those out, which will take ages with my barber hones, but oh well. The blade is a 6/8, I think. Square point.

The E.A. Berg razor has one seriously warped scale, but not bad enough that it gets in the way of closing the razor, it just looks funny. The blade has some scratches and a little rust near the heel. Seems to be a 5/8 blade. Square or spike point.

The C.V. Heljestrand looks like it's a 4/8 blade, or even a 3/8. The blade has a small chip near the toe, and has slight rust, and also some kind of black deposits on the blade (paint?) on the "back". Needs to be polished and the chip honed out.

Then there's the "dark horse" of the lot. It's a razor with "Trollhättans meteor-stål" emblazoned on the blade, and the tang is marked "J.A. Hellberg, Eskilstuna, +Garanti+", and "SWEDEN" at a 90 degree angle to that text. The toe is significantly wider than the heel, leading me to think that it's been badly honed into that shape. Otherwise it looks in fairly good condition. No jimps on this one. Looks like it might be a 5/8 blade.

The DE blades are likely crap, and I threw away the loose ones, and kept the ones still in wrappers as a curiosity, together with the tattered boar bristle shaving brushes and the razor blade sharpener.

The box itself is a charming piece of history, with its cracked bottom and speckled and splotched mirror which folds into the lid. It certainly has some personality to it.

Bummer,

when I first saw the pics I thought this was a great haul

Ivo

I'm actually not too bummed out by the state of the straight razors. I got two nice DE razors, and once the chips have been honed out and the blades sanded and polished on the straights, it may turn out that I have three keepers there (four if the "meteor steel" dark horse is ok as well).

I'd like to find a similar box.....

I received the final three straights (the second lot I won) today. Long wait, but maybe worth it. All three look pretty good, no nicks in the edges and scales in OK condition for the most part. One of them has a small piece missing from one scale, and the edge of the break feels prickly/snaggy (like there's a splinter there).

One is a Erik Anton Berg, Eskilstuna, frameback, 9/16 I think (but it may be that it was a 5/8 and has been honed down to 9/16), with bone scales. The finish on the blade is pretty rustic (lots of heavy grind marks).

One is a 5/8 wedge with a barber's notch and bone scales (this is the one where one of the scales is missing a small piece). The shank says "87A Garantie Solingen" on one side and "Magnet" on the other. Has some rust pitting near the spine, but otherwise in fair condition.

The last one is a J.A. Hellberg, Eskilstuna, 5/8 french point wedge or at most 1/4 hollow, with bone colored plastic scales, I think. This one is the only one of the three with jimps. Minor rust pitting, but otherwise the best blade of the lot.

Oh, and the "dark horse", the "Meteor steel" razor turned out to be a wedge as well. Two (three?) wedge razors at once, and I haven't even seen one before. Pretty cool.