Thread: Why Couldn't Be . . .?

Ladies and gentlemen:

Life is a barrel of missed opportunities: people you didn't meet even though you could have, restaurants you didn't dine at even though you could have. For instance, last year I came across a Gillette Aristocrat double edge razor in almost mint condition, reasonably priced, and didn't buy it. Don't ask me why. I still brood over that missed opportunity.

Life is also a sequence of things that could have been and should have been but were not. At a flea market last year I came across a straight razor that instantly grabbed my attention. It was inside a glass display case along with other objects, and it was marked $40. Even though the scales looked perfect and I had a gut feeling the blade would be a treasure, I moved on. Why I don't know. I had the money. I still think about it: what if it was a great razor? It could have been a bust, too, but at least I should have asked to see the razor.

Another time I came across a Henckel with gorgeous scales, original, if I remember, and almost jumped out of my britches. Oh dear, dear, but the 5/8" blade looked as if it had been snack food for a chipmunk with a big chunk missing from the middle of the cutting edge. Why could it not have been in a good shape? Well, I brood over that, too.

Last week at an antique shop I landed a sparkling 5/8" H. Boker "King Cutter" — the vintage and not the new model — and grabbed it. The blade looks new. The scales are perfect, although not original — they are the yellow acrylic wood-effect scales seen on the Shumate.

In the same case there was a Bengal. My tongue parachuted to my toes with my streak of luck. I opened the razor. For heaven's sake. The scales looked good, but the blade was a 4/8" with heavy hone marks. It could have been a 5/8" and in good shave and should have been, but it wasn't. The only reaction I had was to curse the world — in Assyrian. I'm not all that fond of the 4/8" blade, although I have several, including a Wostenholm Spanish point and a Hess round point.

So go missed opportunities and circumstances in which things could have been and should have been but were not.

Have you experienced similar circumstances? Thanks.

Regards,

Obie