Hello people. I was sitting here thinking about some people's posts and people saying that razor is rare and thought I would ask you what you think is the rarest straight razor :D
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Hello people. I was sitting here thinking about some people's posts and people saying that razor is rare and thought I would ask you what you think is the rarest straight razor :D
Bresnick Napoleon A.K.A. dubl duck Napoleon, or maybe the silver steel Sheffield razor given to Michael Faraday by ....... was it Greaves ? Anyway, that one.
NOS Packwood ?
Pinksley & Green...Voidmonster just bought a pair of these.Quote:
Originally Posted by JimmyHAD
I've seen a lot of un-tempered Dorko blanks go through ebay. If razors get rare the same way as steaks, those'd count!
Any razor I don't have.
Used to have a pair of those.Quote:
Originally Posted by 10Pups
Whatever the 'rarest' is, we likely don't know of it, or it doesn't exist. Technically speaking would have to be made in a production number of 1.
Chronik.
James.
It depends how you define rare. There was a series of 30 razors made for this forum by Livi. Just 30 in the whole world. That's makes them pretty rare to me.
Probably the dovo best quality 5/8. :rofl2::rofl2:
Can't be mire than a few hunred thousand, couple million at most!:rofl2:
I've only seen one other razor like my 10/8 Joseph Rodgers 'Dutch Rattler' - there can't be many of those.
Probably one that most around here haven't heard of. Including me, because it is actually rare. Rare is extremely over used, in my opinion. Large Wade & Butchers in decent condition are _not_ rare at all, just desired by many, which is why they fetch the prices they do. Just like other popular brands. Dubl Duck, Heljestrand and Filarmonica come to mind.
There aren't a whole lot of rare razors. That's why they're rare. And uncommon stamp on a common brand, in my opinion, doesn't make it rare. It makes it a common razor with an uncommon stamp. But I understand that is a debatable opinion.
I would guess any hand made custom as there is only one of them
I've only ever seen one other like my 17/16 Joseph Elliot FBU wedge. When I posted it on here last year, nobody could tell me anything about it, nor could they provide pictures of any. Until a guy emailed me. He had seen one come across eBay, emailed me the picture from the listing. Said it fetched quite a high price. Anyway, I still haven't honed her up. Just have it sitting in my desk drawer in its new camel bone scales (I received it blade only- I would have LOVED to have seen the original scales!).
http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/...ps51b64ff0.jpg
Mint, Helji 134 in Orig Ivory scales.
Guy named Alan Swain, who wrote a pamphlet on Case knife tang stamps, back in the 1970s, said under 500 was rare. Under 1,000 was semi-rare, and over 1,000 was not rare or semi. At least that was his opinion if I remember it correctly. This was applied to old ....... vintage ....... knives. Not one off customs or "hot" items such as the meat chopper FBUs and like that.
The ones in my collection,
as you will not likely get your hands on any of them in your lifetime....;)
Just about every razor you see on ebay.
"rare" and "vintage"
throw in "quality" while we're at it.
Are words without solid meaning:
Rare is relative to other items and does not necessarily affect desirability. A new found stash of NOS knocks rarity right in the head.
Vintage, we just had a go 'round here on that on.
Quality, requires a qualifier to be used properly-as in "poor" quality or "finest" quality. See, "quality" is really neutral.
Caveat Emptor, Let the Buyer Beware. Sellers gotta sell. You don't have to buy.
Learn to judge them on condition and size, then brand, is best bet.
The rarest straight is the one that hasn't been made yet and never will. From there it is all down hill especially since there is no commonly accepted definition of what rare means in terms of numbers produced. In the thread on what vintage means the problem is similar with no commonly accepted age.
Bob
There are quite a few razors that are, this far, known in only one single specimen.
any more rare than that is hard to imagine until new information pops up:)
My C-Mon-Filarmonica in 8/8 is but one of many examples of this...
As to the lowest production numbers on vintage razors, who knows?
That is exactly the problem with straights and determining a fact based definition of what rare is. Just because I haven't seen another or only a few specimens over a period of time does not necessarily mean it is rare. The possibility is there but in no way can be substantiated.Quote:
Originally Posted by Birnando
Straights in their hay-day were merely common mass produced everyday tools not even serial numbered. Where would you even start to verify the rarity of such an item even if complete factory production records were available. Rarity is just a best informed guess at the most extrapolated from a scanty information base.
Bob
Another thing on this topic (of marketing and selling).
If it's labeled "Limited Edition" or "Collector's Item"
then, it's quite likely _not_.
(hint, look at "sold items" for ideas as to current values of anything.)
Rarest? The one that I'm able to hone and strop to a level where I could got a BBS in 3 passes!
Let me know if you find it!
The rarest razor is the one that barely kissed the grill
Back to the original question asked by the OP:
I believe it would probably be a "Benjamin Huntsman" razor from around ca. 1740...The first narrow-bladed folding straight razors were first listed by a Sheffield, England manufacturer in 1680. By 1740, Benjamin Huntsman was making straight razors complete with decorated handles and hollow-ground blades made from cast steel, using a process he himself invented.
Either that or an Egyptian Bronze Age razor from around 1600BC....
WP34