Thread: Vintage razors are a great deal at almost any cost.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Karl, that Tally Ho is gorgeous. Your photos are excellent too, especially the Tally Ho. What camera and lighting setup are you using ? This first generation Sony Mavica I use is just worthless by comparison.

On the photos I must give credit. I currently have no camera to my name. The Tally Ho is Undream's resto pic, and the 42 was taken for me by Seraphim. The Leader is on my old camera.

Also on the note of lots of people commenting on the Tally Ho- you can find Undream's resto thread here:Tally Ho! 8/8 in Horn, Brass, and more Horn - Straight Razor Place Forums He is a great guy with fair prices and clearly he does excellent work. I spent a lot of time looking through the resto forum to find a guy who I thought could restore her for me.

Back on topic: the point is if you can take a massive, old, beautiful, great shaving blade and have it resto-d CUSTOM'd to YOUR specs, for a total cost (including buying the razor and shipping in various directions) <$120, I think that speaks to the value of vintage over new.

I gotta agree with Jimmy for me it is the history too,,

I think I have owned 5 new razors they all shaved great ....

I love the hunt and the kill of finding a perfect example of a vintage razor....and honestly I really don't care what anyone else says certain vintage razors have a smooth factor that cannot be matched...

Just realised something. Your Weltmeister razor says "Solinger Wertarbeit" translated means Solingen Workmanship. But- if you split wertarbeit up into wert and arbeit, it is "worth" and "work". Just an interesting insight into German mindset way back when the word was first used that the word for workmanship is a compound of work (obvious) and worth (less obvious and usually lacking in today's products).

Well said,Jimmy!!

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

There is something about a vintage razor, particularly if it is in fine condition. It has history and soul that a new razor just ain't got. I agree 100% about the dollar for dollar value between the current production and the oldies.

And some GREAT random thoughts they are.I also love vintage.Everytime i shave with one I think about the history behind that perticular razor.Well said ChrisL,you dont have to spend a bundle for a great razor.

Originally Posted by ChrisL

I believe this to be true. In fact, I'm continually amazed that vintage razors, most specifically the ones in great condition, go for much less than I think they're worth. Before I get a slew of rebuttals such as "They're only worth what a person is willing to pay for them.", "If they typically go for $XX, then they ain't worth more than that." "They're worth what they're worth.", "The "market" is accurate and sets value where value "should" be.", I'll explain.

Take a look at any one of the current straight razor retailer websites for new Dovo and TI razors. I noticed a Dovo SS with some goldwash in some ironwood scales for $300. Dovo in micarta for $200, many other new razors in that range.

Although I don't comb Ebay daily, I don't see many razors like the following consistently selling in that range:


Nothing against new Dovos, but to me, a Hess 44 given it's rarity (finite number), look and reputation spanks most new razors up and down. Why is it then, that they're often bought on auction for much less than a comparable new production razor?





Most of us have some razor "gems", many of you have scads and scads more than I do. My point in posting these pics is to support my opinion that again, save for the occasional bidding war auction where we're all talking about "What was that person thinking spending that much on a vintage razor???", fine vintage razors generally go for much less than comparable new razors and, even vintage razors that are incomparable go for less than new razors that are at least similar in some way. It's really a primary reason why I hold on to some of the "gems" I own; I believe the liklihood of selling them for what I believe they're worth is rather low. Sounds crazy, but true.

A guy once said: "A collector is someone who thinks that any piece in his collection is worth five times more than he'd ever pay for it." Ok, the guy was me but you can still quote me.

I wonder if that's part of what's going on. As collectors/users of fine vintage razors we not only enjoy shaving with them, but on some level, we're buying razors because we hope or assume they'll appreciate in value on some level. If we buy high rather than low, the appreciation factor is much lower.

Just some random thoughts.

Chris L