Thread: Straight Razors in the 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog

Originally Posted by rugrad02

Very Cool pictures! Thanks for adding these. I have been looking for the Sears Roebuck Catalog resissues.

Amazon has it. Not to mention Montgomery Ward, Jordan Marsh, Bloomingdale's, Harper's Bazaar and many others. People working in film and theater rely on these reprints for accurate costuming and prop details. I didn't even know about them until I stumbled upon that Sears catalog in the bookstore

Back then, Sears sold everything, including houses!

Thus the "Craftsman" style house!

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Price wise you gotta remember a dollar was probably a days wage for the average joe back in the day.

This is true. My grandfather was born in 1882 and told me that a dollar a day was considered a good day's pay when he was a young man. The American dollar was at its very strongest point in the very early 1900's.

Where is Theodore Roosevelt now when we really need him?

Originally Posted by marosell

You've probably seen them, just not known it was rubber. Instinctively, when I hear rubber, I think of like a car tire. But these are hardened rubber; they look and feel just like plastic, as hardened rubber was one of the first plastics. You can tell that some black-plastic scales are actually hardened rubber by rubbing your fingers back and forth on them, and generate some friction. Then smell them. It will smell like burning rubber.

Yep, hard rubber. Also known as Vulcanite. It was used for revolver grips also, and pipe mouthpieces (and still is).

Razors are like old cars,if we only knew!!!!!!!

Thank you for posting that. Very interesting to look at.

Knowing that $1 was approx a typical day's wages puts this in perspective, but still, it's easy to daydream about those awesome razors at those prices!

Fancy celluloid scales were more expensive than real ivory. Interesting.
Coticules for .75 cents. Come and get em!
Strops for .25 cents.

Oh, to live back then and just have the selection to choose from would have been something.

Chris L

I actually own one of those razors, although I don't know if it's that old...and it's my daily shaver! I have the one from the second image the Fancy Handled Razor item No.14788. I'll get some pics and post it up. It's extra Hollow Ground, Sears and Roebuck Co. No other identifying information is on it anywhere. I'll post some pics in the near future.

The Inflation Calculator

Hmmm....according to this website, I'm paying nearly full msrp for the same razor over 100 years later! A $1 Wostenholm would be $25 today and the fancy Bokers that cost $1.75 would cost $45 today.

I saw one of mine in there to, the 85c W&B, pretty cool thanks for the post. Its interesting to see that the bokers commanded a little higher price.