Thread: 1600s Imperial Russia Peter the great era soldiers straight razor w/double eagle

This one has been on eBay forever. The Buy It Now is US $425. Does anyone have any info about it? I won't be buying it regardless, but I'm wondering if its authentic.

Originally Posted by puketui41

This one has been on eBay forever. The Buy It Now is US $425. Does anyone have any info about it? I won't be buying it regardless, but I'm wondering if its authentic.

I going out on a limb here, and don't know for sure. But I'm going to guess these are 100% reproduction, in a similar vein as the "Ancient Chinese" and "Ancient Roman" straight razors one finds on eBay.

Or I'm completely wrong and it's a cool archeological find .

There is a reason it has been on ebay forever. Would that be because it is a worthless piece of rusty steel?

Originally Posted by entropy1049

I going out on a limb here, and don't know for sure. But I'm going to guess these are 100% reproduction, in a similar vein as the "Ancient Chinese" and "Ancient Roman" straight razors one finds on eBay.

Or I'm completely wrong and it's a cool archeological find .

I doubt it - don't think most of the chinese ones are reproduction, they are very typical of asian shaving blades. I think there's just so many of them and they are sometimes maybe exaggerated as to their age.

This one on ebay looks legitimate to me (without much experience in that era admittedly). I imagine it's just high enough of a price to deter most, it would be a very specialized collector piece.

Personally to say its a 1600's razor is one thing, but to say its 1600's razor from Peter the great soldiers, that's a totally different thing. No provenance no sale.

Oh and by the way, i was at a flea market and this guy had a bucket full of these Chinese razors, different size blade look old but not as advertise for sure.

Originally Posted by Kees

There is a reason it has been on ebay forever. Would that be because it is a worthless piece of rusty steel?

That's what I'm trying to establish.

I have no idea whether this is authentic or not....but a couple of thoughts here, and anyone who has been in the ebay market for razors (or antiques in general) knows this....

First things first, as mentioned above, no provenance, no sale for legit antiques. That aside, I'll go one step further.

Just because it is old, does not mean it has any value whatsoever. In this case, its age potentially is one thing, but given it is a tool, as we can see in this condition, it has lost all of its utility. Assuming it has value in good condition, as we know in the razor market at large....rust is a bad thing....lol. I would be inclined to think if it were authentic and in some form of serviceable condition it could command such a price....but as it sits now....it looks like something for the recycling heap.

Like Martin103 said - can he establish the provenance? That's everything.

Sandycrack

You'd have to be able to find a record of the touch marks somewhere to be sure. Personally I don't care who used it, but if it is indeed that old I'd be interested just from the age aspect.

During the reign of tsar Peter the average Russian soldier was very poor, mostly unshaved and didn't have too long a life span in the seemingly never ending war against the better equipped and far better trained Swedish army. Eventually tsar Peter won the war after in 1721 after 21 years of very brutal and devastating war. It was the end of the Swedish empire and Russia's entry as a mayor European player.

The razors of the soldiers in the Russian army were made it their home villages by the local blacksmith. The razors didn't differ from any other razors and standard army razors were not to be issued for at least 150 years.

In short the corroded piece of junk can be just about anything, but it's definitely NOT a Russian army razor from the reign of tsar Peter.