Thread: Bismarck 502

I got this Bismarck 502 "Fine Hollow Ground", but there is no "registered" or "works", is it Dovo? any date?

Yes, it is a Dovo. Honed to shave ready it ought to be a real good shaver. Looks to be in great condition.

Is that not one of the original Bismarck's before it was bought out by Dovo? Cracking razor what ever

As an interesting aside, Zak recently picked up a Bismarck, presumably from the old days, and it has a different tang stamping than either the one in this thread, or than the two I'm showing photos of below. http://straightrazorpalace.com/show-...-bismarck.html

These have the usual 'Registered' on the monkey tail, while the one by Zak does not. I'm told by a friend in Germany that Dovo acquired Bismarck in 1957.

If the Bismarck in this OP of this thread is not a Dovo, than they were making them identically to that one as late as 7 years ago. Anyway ........... if it is a good razor it is a good razor no matter who made it. Here are a couple of others. Note the differences in the inlay on the scales, and on the tang stamps. Not making any particular point, other than they are not the same, so from year to year they changed things. No surprise in that. The last pic in line is a Dovo Bismarck I found a pic of in the razor clubs forum.

Thanks for the info

I ask Dovo the same question and this is the answer:

Thank you very much for your email. I am sorry I cannot provide information, many of our records were lost or destroyed during World War I and II. It might not even be one of our razor models, as a few decades ago there were many small companies (often consisting only of one or two people) in Solingen producing straight razors, and since they were such small enterprises, they shared forging batches to be able to get the forge to make the minimum quantity necessary for a forging run. So even the shape was not unique to one company.



Maybe our Solingen cutlery museum can help. Their email address is klingenmuseum@solingen.de.



I am very sorry for not being able to give you better news.



Best regards,

Anne

In retrospect it could very well be a Bismarck. The blade looked so similar to the one they've made in recent years, but it is not exact. The scales and box would indicate Bismarck, and the '502' I'm not sure about. Probably the older company.