Gold washed/plated razors question

[ChrisL]

There were more than a few razor brands back in the day that had gold plated tangs. The DD Goldedge and Gold Bug razors jump to my mind as the most well known. I have a "Ladwig's Special" square point German razor marketed by Milwaukee Cutlery IIRC that had a gold plated tang.

In studying the Ladwig's Special closely, the entire tang, sides top and bottom were plated. This is a two stabilizer full hollow and it appears there is gold remnant in the crevice of at least the stabilizer bar which joins the tang. Also, the very end tip of the toe of the spine, when the blade is viewed head on rather than from the side, was plated. The spine sides and spine top show no sign of plating whatsoever.

My long winded question: Does anyone have a fine specimen of a razor that has a gold plated tang showing more or less conclusive evidence that the spine and top of the razor were in fact NOT gold plated? I see there is a fabulous example of a Droescher Gold Bug in the Wiki and it looks like the entire tang and the stabilizer bar area are gold plated. I can't tell from the picture if the top of the spine was plated as well.

For aesthetics, if an entire razor tang was gold plated AND the tip of the razor was plated, it would seem logical to plate the entire spine/top of the blade. However, even with proper stropping, I would assume plating would wear off. On my Ladwig's Special, there is not enough gold left to tell if the spine was plated or purposely left unplated.

I'll post pictures later.

Chris L