Thread: What's NOT in the display case?

About a month ago I was having a conversation with one of the dealers at one of my local antiques stores. He had a few good razors in his display case but the prices were a little high for me. So I asked him a question that I ask most dealers that I talk to, "Do you have any razors that aren't in the display case, maybe they have broken scales or are a little rusty?" He said yes that had has several boxes of razors like this - he just has to find them.

Well, he found one of the boxes and gave me a call. This time he was much more flexible with his prices and happy that someone was interested in them. And, they are not as bad of condition as he made them sound. Some have cracked scales, some have spots of rust, some are actually fine and just need cleaning. These averaged out to just over $15 a piece. Moral of the story - ask if they have razors that didn't make it into the display case, you might be pleasantly surprised!

Top to bottom:
Engels "Perfect Temper" (good condition, needs cleaning).....Osgood, Bray & Co. (broken scale).....M.Matta, Quebec "Best Can't B. Beat Brand" (chip out of the covered tang on the back side).....Wade & Butcher 7/8 wedge (rusty collars & minor chipping on backside scale).....John Bagshaw, Penknife & Razor Maker, 25 Church St. Liverpool (rust on spine & cracked scale).....Joseph Elliot "Silver Steel" (slight warped scales, couple bug bites).....

On the side:
Holley Mfg. Lakeville (rusty collars, slight warped scales).....Wostenholm EBRO "Real Hollow Ground" (cracked scale, pits near spine)

Get to work, Tuzi!

Beautiful haul. That should keep it up rntertained for a while.

Heck yea way to investigate!

Yep, got that covered as well, Tuzi.
Not too many rocks left to turn over, for this guy.
Don't forget..!!
The customers in the stores are into Antique's too, and just might have some at home.

And the barber shop, where the old guys go. Uh huh...gold mines!!

As the saying goes.... The squeaky wheel, gets the oil.

The guy said he will keep looking for the other boxes and to check in with him in a few weeks. He had probably 12 or 15 more razors in the box he showed me but those were lost causes, wind chimes all the way.

Originally Posted by xiaotuzi

The guy said he will keep looking for the other boxes and to check in with him in a few weeks. He had probably 12 or 15 more razors in the box he showed me but those were lost causes, wind chimes all the way.

Somehow I think you could transform those "wind-chimes" into shaving works of art, Garrison.

Originally Posted by outback

Yep, got that covered as well, Tuzi.
Not too many rocks left to turn over, for this guy.
Don't forget..!!
The customers in the stores are into Antique's too, and just might have some at home.
And the barber shop, where the old guys go. Uh huh...gold mines!!
As the saying goes.... The squeaky wheel, gets the oil.

Few truer words have been spoken!
I found new friends, and met a lot of folks antiquing. I got to know the dealers and sold a lot of stuff through them. They named folks they knew that had stuff of interest to me.

Some times the time is long between the meet and the find. Three years in one case. But, at a very fair cost to me, 30 nos Sheffield blades that had never been scaled. The person spent their higher education in the UK. Oh, That person has a few over 5K blades. Another guy I ran into has a few thousand also, he let Randy and I sort through his culls and buy at a very low cost.

Met a local at a pawn shop, he has over a thousand and I have bought from him.

Another gentleman had a display at a shop and the owners forwarded my request to meet with him. An hour's drive and I met a really nice fellow, didn't horse trade with him, he had been buying sulky racehorses...from the Amish. His flat prices were great and I found a couple blades i enjoy. Garage sales are great for stones. At least half mine come from such sales.

Oh, yes, I lived in a country town of a few thousand folk.

So, as you have the time, get talking!
~Richard

Making the connections with other folks is one of the joys of hunting around for this old stuff. Everyone has been bitten by the bug for something or other over the years. Talking to them about it you can learn a lot and maybe come away with something you didn't have before, and in some cases, didn't know about! Antiquing folk are good folk in my book.

I have dreams about this kind of thing. Great find!