Originally Posted by
RobinK
It is indeed. You can ask the companies and craftsmen which are still there (a scant few), and why would they lie? They have nothing to gain from badmouthing their own industry, have they? So when several people who were actually there when it happened tell me very much the exact same story, I tend to believe them more than vendors and collectors. Because both of the latter actually do have something to lose.
Oh, you mean like Heljestrand and Hellberg? Well, yes, that may be a little sad for the investor. Believe you me, I was a bit miffed when they these old craftsmen shared their opinions about Puma razors. I have a few. I really like them. I do not want to believe they were considered [censored], but upon closer inspection, I do not find them quite as great as I once did.
I my previous career here, I used to pester Lynn and others with the one question which probably every novice (and I consider myself a novice after roughly a decade dealing with this hobby still) would love to see answered, "what is the best razor", and the answer was, "well this brand and that one, and this one too, oh, and don't forget that one over there." There is no holy grail, and I personally believe that there certainly is no one single brand that outperforms everything else. If there were, people would have noticed. Moreover, it would have reached world domination fairly quickly back then, but not one brand ever did. We are, and we often forget that, talking about the vintage equivalent of hair-dryers or washing machines. Except for souvenir razors and seven day sets, we are looking at household items which were bought because they either worked, or they did not. Go back a few years in SPR's archive before that famous shot Max posted, and read about what people thought about Filarmonica razors back then. "Solid performer, decent price" was the general verdict. The raving reviews started afterwards, and prices skyrocketed. I know a guy who about 18 months back came across a few boxes full of NOS Filarmonicas. He is selling them piecemeal to keep prices up, and that is a very nice way to get a lot of money. Which is great for him, but also tells you a bit about the market, and why prices have been a bit off for the last five years.
Then again, what is wrong with having a high quality razor even if you overpaid? I have exactly one Filarmonica left which I refuse to sell because I overpaid (by my standards, ie something like $125), and I refuse to rip off some innocent buyer by selling it at the current going rate. However, I would still recommend getting one, if you can get it for less than $150, simply because they are rock solid razors, and because finding a Solingen #14 for a sensible price can be a bit hard. One per year on average so far, as I said. But it can be done.