Thread: Picked up some great razors this month!!

I've been heading out and about to the local antique shops these past few weeks and managed to pick up some real prizes. A couple of them might be restored a little bit, mostly to cover up other restoration attempts. One pair will need some major work, but I'm very happy with all of them.

The first set I picked up are a matched pair of carved bone 6/8 gold washed beauties from Ewald Krone. Marked with "GOLD E.K.S. KRONE", the compamy was based in Solingen and made all types of cutlery from 1919-1922. I don't know if the short life of the company is a good thing or a bad thing? It reminds me of the Kellogg cereal wars in Battlecreek. This pair shows minimal hone wear and slight rust spotting, with the gold wash on the spine and tang about 95% intact. Also, I say these are bone as they show little of the typical ivory graining, don't flex easily, have thicker scales than ivory and pass the hot needle test.
Here are a few pics of the beauties...
Pair in Box
Full View
Closeup of Carving
Gold Tangs with Company Markings
Spine Shot

The next one is an Pinned Ivory darling that called my name. The piece was labeled as an "inlaid French Ivory Razor" but the extent of the pinning, the thickness of the scales, the stubby tail and the hot needle test all tell me it is really old and really ivory. Since the guy didn't think it was ivory, I managed to pick it up cheap.
Pinned Beauty
Detailed Pinning with Silver Cab
Stubby Tail
Details, Details...

The blade sports some crummy grinding marks from a past restoration attempt and that's the only thing that's keeping me from leaving this thing the way it is. I'll get the blade up to par and see if I can get it into my rotation of antique ivory shavers!

I'll see if I can post the other razors I bought in another post at another time, as this post is already long and pic-heavy. Any thoughts or comments appreciated.

Matt

Those look really nice. Especially the set of two. How much did all three of them run you?

Thanks. The Ivory pinned piece was $45can and the set of two was $60can. All told, 105$ for the three of them and considering the age of the first one and the condition and carving of the pair, I'm quite happy with them.

Pretty good. If I knew a piece was ivory, I'd definitely want to get it. I've been looking for an ivory-handled or bone-handled razor.

At those prices, I would have tried to talk 'em down a bit, though. I do that all the time at antique stores. My best buy was probably a nice 6/8 full hollow W&B razor, with box for eight bucks.

Where in Canada are you located, by the way?

Guelph, just outside of Toronto down the 401.

The double set was listed at $90 and the single pinned razor was at an antique mall, where 50-60 dealers have booths set up, but they aren't present. Regular employees lock and unlock cases for you and no one has the power to agree to a haggle.

All in all, $45 for an Ivory scaled, silver pinned razor isn't bad. I've picked up plain ivory razors for more and don't have any other pinned razors, so I couldn't pass it up. The carving and condition on the pair was also too much to pass up. It was the opening day of a large antique market which operates from May through October. I knew if I let them sit too long, they'd be gone.

Sorry to revive this thread, but I'm too curious.

Shavethebadger, are you talking about the Aberfoyle Antique Market ?
Also, have you ever found anything in K/W ?
I spend quite a lot of time there and have been looking around for antique 'opportunities', no luck so far though.
The St. Jacobs flee market is a joke btw.

Redwoood

The pair of razor I picked up came from aberfolye.

In our area you want to check out Aberfoyle market (this weekend on saturday is their big day, with a few hundred extra vendors.)

Also, two antique markets on highway six between guelph and hamilton.

Also an antique market on highway 5, near flamborough, just off highway 6.

Also, antique markets in st. jacobs are alright, but the "flea market" is a piece of crap.

There is a nice line of antique shops with one in elora, one in waterloo and one in stratford. The one in St. Jacobs is at 805 King Street North. 1-888-843- 9929 All of the shops are roughly 20,000 sq ft and represent over 100 vendors per shop.

Gook luck,

Originally Posted by shavethebadger

All in all, $45 for an Ivory scaled, silver pinned razor isn't bad.

Not to mention that this razor probably goes back to 1830-1840
possibly older. Nice collectable and best left alone?

Glen

Tragically, a past owner took a grinder to the blade and left some heavy markings on it. If the blade was in good condition, the most I would do is have it honed. Seeing as how the blade is in crummy condition, I'll probably try to fix it up, but I don't think I'll be doing anything to the scales other than a light cleaning.

Originally Posted by shavethebadger

[...]
There is a nice line of antique shops with one in elora, one in waterloo and one in stratford. The one in St. Jacobs is at 805 King Street North. 1-888-843- 9929 All of the shops are roughly 20,000 sq ft and represent over 100 vendors per shop.

Gook luck,

Thanks a bunch, shavethebadger !
As if I need any more razors...

Redwoood