Thread: Rare razors

Rare, to me anyway, is all about condition. Bad condition anything is junk, no matter how seldom seen.

Some seem to collect tang stamps, however.

One of the most common razors ever, say a Goldedge, is common. A perfect one is quite rare by comparison.
Even ones from the old days. Older ones, more is forgiven if in decent shape.

Condition is the factor before rarely-seen can be considered.
If you have both, that is truly rare.
JMHO

The rarest straight I own. Michael Price was a famous San Francisco gold rush cutler who's bowie knives have sold at auction for over $30,000. Little known fact: he made a few razors as well. I know of four, including this one. A collector/author named Bernard Levine (who wrote THE book on early California knives) had one, another fellow here on SRP has spent a lifetime searching and has two. I have expensive razors, valuable razors, desirable razors, razors I've spent too much on, but none approach the rarity of this guy. I've been offered ridiculous sums of cash for it, no intention of selling ever.

To me, rare is an example from a maker of high repute who made very few examples.

COOL! Looking at the stabilizer. Think it was reground at some point?
Let's see that stamp. Never saw one!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

COOL! Looking at the stabilizer. Think it was reground at some point?
Let's see that stamp. Never saw one!

I don't think it's ever been reground, and actually seems to have been lightly used. The makers mark strike is light and tilted, but legible enough to positively ID. Same stamp Price used on all of his cutlery, "M. Price San Francisco".

Originally Posted by Martin103

No doubt about this one being rare, remember the original thread http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...fo-please.html
Are you planning to finish this razor?

not done yet mate
after looking at the quality of the knives I found made by this company I wanted to use Ivory with pinning etc
but being in Aus & pushing it up hill to get legal ivory I am leaning towards bone scales & some pining or inlays.
no rush on this one as it will be a definite keeper I think & I want to do it some justice.
cheers
D

Originally Posted by Martin103

Dont know the exact year, but T. R. Cadman & Sons went to T. R. Cadman and sons LTD in the 1920's.

I have some old Bengalls then

I have a Kippax which is rarely seen which has been said to be from the mid 1700's to the late 1700's but definitely not into the 1800's. I have one & another member on here has one that I know of. I think it was gooser that has one. There are some other rare ones out there that come along once in a great while.

The Jennings razor made in Australia in the 1860s is probably among the rarer razors anyone has turned up. There was a thread very like this one on Badger & Blade in Dec 2013 and mdunn posted a picture. I'm not sure of the etiquette here of mentioning other forums, let alone linking to them, so I'll leave it up to anyone who wants to google for it. It's not that exciting; just a razor with "Jennings Sydney" stamped on the tang but if anyone finds another there will be interested buyers.

The thing is, there were tons of small producers all over the place making razors. I have a number of razors I have only ever seen one or two of. Rare? Yes. But if I put them on ebay I might only get a few bucks for them because they usually have to have some other quality about them to make them valued.

Here are a few that you might have a hard time finding more of. The point of this is just to show that there are tons of 'rare' razors out there. I think the makers' histories are interesting. But anything from condition to scale materials to specific styles can make a razor rare. There are many different levels of rarity. In the end, just collect the ones you think are neat.

WOW! Something to be said for tang stamps! Those are amazing!

What is that last one?