Thread: Razor grading in the Wiki

I don't know if it's allowed and more importantly I wouldn't feel right about jumping in and changing Wiki material based on my opinion.

Can we have a discussion on razor grading as seen HERE ?

I'm not a collector of non-shaving related items so I'm largely in the dark on grading standards in general.

My differing opinion relates to "FAIR" condition as defined in that Wiki piece. Based on the sample photos, I personally would not consider those razors or scales to be considered Fair condition. I would consider them to be POOR condition as they're significantly damaged bordering on if not severely so.

If I contacted a dealer for example and the dealer told me he had a razor collection where most of the razors were in FAIR condition and I traveled to view them and found them to be what IMO would be more or less worthless, I'd be peeved to say the least.

Maybe this isn't a big deal, but since we're establishing a Wiki for posterity, IMO I don't think our collective mental image of Fair condition razors or scales should be similar to those examples in the sample pics.

Thank you for taking the time to put such a great Wiki piece together and post it.

Chris L

Hi Chris! Thanks for your opinion: I find interesting and nice the opportunity to discuss in detail the Wiki-page.

Many persons share with you that same opinion about the term "fair", so it could be good to change the page. I have a different opinion, probably because - as you can see - English is not my native language. I accept such terms (like "fair") as a standard in some field of antiques and I found really important to follow an existing standard, or in other words to establish a standard in razor grading with the help of previous experiences in similar fields (such as coins). OK, I don't shave with coins.. but, as razors do, coins have problems due to the material (metal) they are made of, coins circulate and change owner like many razors, coins can be collected like razors, coins can be very new or very old like razors, etc.

The problem, now, is that a standard for razor grading does not exist, so everyone can understand what he wants to understand. You can find completly rusted razors in ebay sold as "in very good conditions for its time". In the grading sistem time is not a parameter, since it doesn't matter how old the razor is. Razor age can affect its price, OK, but when grading you will consider in the same way an old razor and a new one. It will simply be more difficult to find an old EF (= extremely fine) razor than a recent EF blade.

I guess "fair" was introduced to have some kind of respect when you deal with very old blades: just to avoid saying that a blade with 200 years and some rust is just cr***.

If a standard will be established, you could write to a seller and ask if he can use that standard to give you more infos about the particular razor you are interested in.

[sorry for the disorder of my thoughts]

I would like to see "fair" removed from the grading system just because it is so often used to describe totally different conditions of wear

"Poor" would be an ok replacement in my mind even though it too is commonly used to describe different levels of condition