Thread: Score!

Undiscouraged from my previous antique store scouring of Vancouver I went out again with my wife, this time to Fort Langley (a smaller city part of the greater Vancouver area) and scored!

I found four razors, each sitting on what may or may not be its original box. They're all in rough shape in one way or another, but I didn't pay very much for them, so I'm pretty excited. I feel very fortunate. Now I have to stay away from any more antique stores cause I'm quite out of money for this new hobby that is for sure.

I also need to figure out what to do to get each one into shape, hopefully at least a few of them can be restored to shaving use! If you're an expert and have any advice for me on any of the razors from what you can see in the pictures I'd be happy to hear your advice.

Here are the razors one by one:

H. Boker & Co "Edelweiss":
- Tang is stamped "H. Boker & Co Solingen" and has the Boker tree symbol.
- Face is inlayed/etched? with Edelweiss logo that looks like the modern version.
- It has a lot of staining, the inlay looks slightly scuffed.
- The only bits of rust are on the top and bottom of the tang above and below the pin connecting it to the scales. The scales have a slight crack near that same pin.
- The scales are loose until it gets about 3/4 open, but then tight enough to hold it in place after that.
- I don't know what the scales are made of, too inexperienced to tell scale materials apart unfortunately.
- I'm not sure what's up with the point on this one. The modern one has a round point, this one is neither round nor square. I don't "think" it was ground down by someone because it seems to go right to the end of the scales.
- The inside of the scales are extremely grungy/dirty.

H. Boker & Co King Cutter:
- Tang is stamped "H. Boker & Co Solingen"
- Blade is etched/inlayed with king cutter logo which looks in good shape.
- The blade is discoloured / stained. Near the heel by the logo the blade appears to have some coloured staining that I hope doesn't mean the blade was heated and lost its temper.
- The scales are in great shape besides being dirty, they're slightly loose again until you get it about 1/4 of the way open then quite snug.
- There is rust in a few spots on the tang, again mostly around the pin.

Alfred Williams "The Favourite":
- Tang is stamped "Alfred Williams Sheffield England"
- Blade is inlayed "The Favourite"
- It looks like it's almost a wedge, but has a slight hollow to it.
- The scales are in great shape and fairly snug.
- There's a bit of rust on the tang, again around the pin.
- Feels quite heavy.

Brosem "Hamburg Ring":
- This little guy is quite interesting, the blade is so narrow, 3/8ths I'm guessing but I haven't measured yet. Blade and scales are just like a feather in your hand.
- Tang is stamped "BROSEM"
- Bladehas inlay/etch that says "Hamburg Ring" with Brosem Reg in between the two words.
- The scales feel extremely flimsy, I think they're just plastic of some sort. I'm guessing they're so flimsy just due to the need to keep them light since the blade is so thin and light itself.
- The edge of the blade is still sharp.
- Besides the staining there's some rust again above and below the pin on the tang, only a little though.

Here are the boxes. Unfortunately I had to let the lady who unlocked the cabinet they were in take them to the front while I kept looking around the place, and while they were up there she separated them from the boxes. So I've lost all sense of which box goes with which razor. Well, except for the one that has the clearly readable mention of the Hamburg Ring. For some reason though it says "Passo" instead of Brosem. I wonder if someone just found a box for a different razor with the Hamburg Ring style.

They also had two other interesting things in the store which I did not buy. One was labeled a "Civil War Era Paddle Strop". It was very cool. It was still encased in its original cardboard sleeve which had all kinds of writing on it. The other was a traveling shave box, with a built-in mirror. These were out of what I could afford so I had to leave them in the store unfortunately, so I've only got iPhone pictures of them:

I think these are the same razors a guy running a store here in Toronto had for sale. I bought a WB Barbers Use 8/8 and a 7/8 Tuckmar of him and I'm positive these were some of the others. I definitely remember The Favorite and the Boker with the tapered blade shape.

Cool. I wonder how they got all the way out here? Ebay maybe.

No fair shoulda left that 8/8 one I'd like to try that out hehe!

Nice haul I'm on the look out for one of that shave box mirrors