Thread: Calling Sherlock Holmes

Gentlemen:
This razor intrigues me. What can you tell me about it? It's an 11/16 half hollow with a barber's notch. It's a French razor, and all French razors intrigue me. Thanks.

Cannot tell you anything about it Obie,Nice looking Razor tho

Well Sir you found another beautiful french razor, with a lot of history as well.

In 1826 the brothers Jean-Baptiste and Augustin Gelle, purchase a perfumery and its recipes from Fargeon Jeune a descendant of Jean-Louis Fargeon who was in 1773 the perfumer for Marie- Antoinette. The Fargeon family was associated with perfumes since 1653.

Located in Paris Gelle Freres sold perfume, soaps, shaving cream, eaux de toilette, eaux de Cologne etc. Years later the company would be knowed as what we call a barber's supply co, with catalogs, etc.

Gelle Freres was not the maker of this razor but purely a distributor, it is said that their razor were made in Nogent!

The company always came out with new perfumes and many other products as well.Different lotions, tootpaste, shaving creams, and received many medals from different expositions common in this time of history.

Still in business today, purchased by "la société Ipsocos" in 1993. And of course the most beautiful frameback i ever seen!

Elementary my dear Obie ...... I can tell you it is a beautiful razor. Enjoy it !!

Martin:
You amaze me, my friend. This is a fascinating background on this razor. Thank you for your detective work. Yes, it is a striking razor. So then, if Gelle Freres was only the distributor, do we know who made the razor? Depose is imprinted on the other side of the tang. I have seen the Depose imprint before. Is this, then, the manufacturer? All intriguing. By the way, the frame back razor is from another world. What an incredible design.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Elementary my dear Obie ...... I can tell you it is a beautiful razor. Enjoy it !!

Thanks, Jimmy. The razor is also beautifully balanced and fits perfectly in my hands. I plan to shave with it tomorrow morning and will post the result.

Originally Posted by Obie

Martin:
So then, if Gelle Freres was only the distributor, do we know who made the razor? Depose is imprinted on the other side of the tang. I have seen the Depose imprint before. Is this, then, the manufacturer? All intriguing. By the way, the frame back razor is from another world. What an incredible design.

Depose has nothing to do with the manufacturer of the razor, that means that your mark like in this case Gelle Freres has been registered and protected, so thats why the marking Depose is commonly found.

As to the maker of this razor i dont know but some have suggested it was from Nogent France??

Gelle freres advertisement from 1869 in english! well almost.

I assume, then, since we're not sure about the maker of the razor, we have to settle for the distributor and call the razor Gelle Freres. I suppose it's a similar case with some of the oddball Sheffield razors that were probably produced by the big names. All fascinating stuff. I can't wait for the shave tomorrow.

My dear Sherlock Martin!!!......as you said in another century, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be truth......"

Well done!!

And Obie, that's a beauty! Even Dr. Watson would have approved!!

Regards,

Howard

Gentlemen:
This morning the angels held hands and blew me kisses as I shaved with the Gelle Freres New American razor. What an incredible shaver. The razor is a half hollow 11/16 with a barber's notch. The past few months I have shaved mostly with hollow razors — Puma, Schlieper, Schmidt, Schulze, LouPer, Thiers-Issard and others — all emitting the delicious scraping sound. Love them all. This one, since it is half hollow, was on the quiet side, which took a few moments to get used to, but I was already in love with it. I also have several Sheffields, but have not used them during this time. But the shave . . . Glorious. The brush was Saville Row 24 mm silvertip and the soap Martin de Candre and the strop Neil Miller shell cordovan. It's a sweet world, gentlemen, and it was a fine morning in the shave den with the Gelle Freres New American. Thanks to my good friend Martin, now I also know something about the history of this intriguing razor.