First of all let me say that I do not mean to offend any French members.

I have just come back from a buying trip to Lille in France.
I was amazed at the poor condition of razors on offer! I did manage to get 2 Thiers Issard in fairly good condition a few other French razors with a couple of German & 1 English but the vast majority of blades were just worn out.
In England the poor blades are either rusty, badly chipped or tapered with bad honing.
In Lille they were just worn out with stropping, big smile on most blades & one nearly had the wear on the spine & edge touching. I mean these razors were clean, no rust & people had been using them in this condition?
On the face of it seems to me that the French are very frugal & don’t waste money on new razors when there is any metal left between the scales!

Tony H