Thread: Bismarck confusion

I have two Bismarcks, both excellent shavers. The one in Ivory I bought from a fellow SRP member several years ago and was told they thought it was a pre-Dovo. It originally had Ivory colored celluloid scales with either 'Bismark' or 'Solingen' (I can't remember which) engraved in the scales. I believe the Yellowed scaled razor is newer made after Dovo bought/took over Bismarck.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I've got a few old Bismarcks, and I've got some old Dovos. Both made a helluva good shaving razor. I don't think one it significantly better than the other. So you can't lose either way.

Thanks. That makes me feel a lot better. I thought I got a really bad deal. It doesn't shave badly so I will keep it.

I have this Biesmark, just to add to the confusion [emoji2]

Originally Posted by Srdjan

I have this Biesmark, just to add to the confusion [emoji2]

Holy! That's a great pic! Makes me want to shave outside in the snow for some reason. Beautiful razor too.

Originally Posted by Srdjan

I have this Biesmark, just to add to the confusion [emoji2]

There is an old thread that has a lot of Bismarck history. IIRC author of this post, @Iceni, says that a lot of Bismarcks with that cool blade etching were exported to the Japanese market.

I was genuinely confused by this blade. It doesn't look like it's a Bismarck, but if what you say is true @JimmyHAD, it won't be the first time I see something out of the Japanese razor market, with western name/term misspelled on the product. I cannot seem to find any info on this blade if I do a Google search, as it is spelled out.

@Steel yes, the photo is cold and sharp, just like the winter!

Originally Posted by Srdjan

I was genuinely confused by this blade. It doesn't look like it's a Bismarck, but if what you say is true @JimmyHAD, it won't be the first time I see something out of the Japanese razor market, with western name/term misspelled on the product. I cannot seem to find any info on this blade if I do a Google search, as it is spelled out.

@Steel yes, the photo is cold and sharp, just like the winter!

@Srdjan LOL, I didn't look closely at the photo, and I thought you had misspelled it in your post

That is wild! I wonder if it is a Bismarck, or not ?

That one with the etch isn't a Bismarck.

The scales are printed inncorrectly. There are none of the usual blade features for an original production. And I've never seen a Dovo made one with that collection of features. Early dovo production have inlays "Bismarck Solingen" Later ones have printed scales "Bismarck Solingen/Super". I've seen prima stamped blades and models with tang numbers but this one is lacking in the main feature that is a Bismarck tang stamp.

Even the bottom end of the Dovo Bismarck price bracket "the Bismarck super" has a stamped tang. I would need a picture of the other side to be absolutely sure of this as a few have reversed stamping.



The rescaled one you posted DoughBoy68 is really nice and has been done in a very clean way. It's a pre 1930's Bismarck, The inlay has been removed from the original scales and put into modern ones. It is not of dovo origin, The scales for a dovo model would read "Bismarck Solingen". It looks to be either a 5/8 or 6/8 model both very common for the pre 1930's models. It has the correct toe, and I bet the monkey tail is stamped. The tang grind is also a give-away as the 1930's models have that chamfer that goes well under the Bismarck stamp. The 1930's models also have much finer jimp work than dovo used.

Originally it would have looked like this, Either with white or black scales.





This one is a Dovo, It looks to be reasonably early in Dovo's owner-ship of the mark. I would expect it to be a Fritz Bracht era razor and an absolute laser of a shaver. Very nice, And slightly dissimilar to a modern Bismarck. The thumb notch is a different cut, and it has jimp work.

I have a Bismarck razor that is supposed to be vintage. It does not say "Dovo" anywhere on it but it doesn't say "Registered" either. Instead, underneath Bismarck on the scales is Solingen. The gold wash on the blade says "Bismarck Special." On one side of the tang is the number 10 and Bismarck and on the other, in English, it says Made in Germany and Solingen below that. Any ideas? Thanks.

The coffin box came with it and says "Bismarck Solingen" It is black with light green.

This sounds like an early Dovo as well. None of them say Dovo, The green label on a black box is a good indicator of age, 1930's models use the same style of box but the label is mostly cream, Dovo's tend to be green before they move to blue plastic coffins then onto the modern tins. The printing used for the Dovo era labels is also much better/clearer than the 1930's ones.

Stamped number on the tang is another indicator of Dovo origin, As too is the "Bismarck Solingen" inlay.

It should shave as well as any of the Fritz Bracht era razors, Dovo, Tennis, and Bismarck of this period are utterly fantastic shavers.