Thread: "Botte gand" anyone?

Anyone kniw this? I'm looking at a razor to buy for honing/using and found thi one now:

Botte Gand, 744A writen o the tang

on the box (which I don't know is the original or not) it says this: Eversharp Razor Co New York City, made in germany

Jantjeuh;

I have a number of razors marked "H. Botte" and from what I understand they were produced here in Belgium. Of course, I could very well be wrong in that. I have only the word of an older fellow who upon seeing mine commented that his father (or was it grandfather) had used one as well.

Even if I am wrong in that assumption, I have always seen these razors marked with different city names found here in Belgium. For example: Antwerpen, Brugge and also Gent. But you also need to realize that Belgium has three official national languages (Dutch, French and German). The above three city names are as they would read in the Dutch language, but in French those same cities are known as Anvers, Bruges and Gand.

Your razor, then is an H.Botte from Gand (Gent in Dutch, but spelled Ghent in English).

I'm sorry that I cannot provide more information for you. Hope this is helpful.

- Ignatz

<this is very helpful! I did not know we made any razors here :-) How do the ones you have shave? I might just take it, just for the fact that it's not completely trashed, cheap and from Belgium !

The H. Botte razors seem to be OK. Each one that I have is different from the others. Perhaps if I have time later on in the week I will photograph and post the pix of the ones I have in my possesion for comparison's sake.

And again, let me stress the point that I am not100% certain that the H. Botte is a Belgian made razor, rather than a series of razors made in Germany but specially stamped for a retailer in the Belgian market. Oh, if only I had some sort of evidence.

Jantjeuh;

I have taken some quicky snapshots of the H.Botte razors in my collection (they all need work) and have now changed my opnion. I believe that these are German razors. But there is no clear story here. It can be any one of the following scenarios.

One option is that there is a Belgian distributer/retailer who contracted with various German cutlery firms to make razors bearing his house brand. This seems very possible.

A second option is that the H.Botte mark is German and the razors were stamped to reflect the local city distributorships. Also possible.

If you take a moment to look at the photos (figures 1 - 4) you will see that no two of the razors are the same. I have numbered them in what I feel is oldest to newest. This has to do with general form and finish as well as scale material.

The razor in figure 1 has horn scales. All the rest seem to be either celluloid or plastic. Too, the general grind and blade finish on razor 1 is pretty mediocre (besides the fact that it needs a bloody good reshaping (what a frown!).

The razor in figure 2 has the most information. First of all, it is the only one with any sort of a maker's mark on the back side (see the detail shot). All of the others have only numbers . The maker's mark is the head of chinese mandarin. Perhaps someone out there will know what factory that might represent. This doesn't mean anything for the other razors, however, since they are devoid of that mark. The box also has some information, reading, "H.Botte en Zonen - Brugge, 40 Steenstraat". This is obviously the location of their shop, and would at least give me a chance to follow up on the local history if I ever find a free weekend to get up to Brugge.

The last two razors are stamped "H.Botte, Gand". This suggests either that there were two shops for H.Botte, or else that the firm moved from Brugge down to Gent (Gand). I haven't a clue.

As for the quality question. Well, these all need a bit of seeing to, but they strike me as reasonable razors. I have tried out razor number two and it did perform fairly well.

Hope this helps.

- Ignatz

Just an FYI for any newbies: Every now and then I see guys asking "what is a frown on a razor? " Fig 1 has a frown.

The cutting edge bows inward toward the spine.

Thank you very much for the excellent reply and beautiful pictures!
What a frown on that first razor, damn... They all look great in my opinion, too bad you can't shave good with a frown cause it looks awesome in my opinion :-)

I'll have another look at that razor then after reading and seeing those pics/comments!