Thread: Some advice on a bulk buy needed

Hello all,
While looking for some "test subjects" for my new interest in straight restoration, I came across this lot of razors. After a little communication with the seller, I was able to get the attached photos and information. I would greatly appreciate the opinions of those more seasoned than I on these razors. I know some are shot and or worthless (2,9,14-16), however others look like good candidates. The lot will set me back about $150.

Thanks,
BJ


List of razors:
1-GEORGE WOSTENHOLM & SON - WASHINGTON WORKS,SHEFFIELD - 1/4" MISSING ON SMALL END.
2-WECK JUNIOR-WECK,N.Y.-NO DAMAGE
3-WOSTENHOLM & SON - EBRO - PERSEVERANCE WORKS - NICKS IN BLADE
4-CLAUSS - FREMONT,OH - NO DAMAGE
5-JOHN.S.HOLLER & CO. - THE TOWER BRAND # 57 - 1/4" MISSING ON SMALL END
6-OXFORD RAZOR - GERMANIA CUTL. WORKS - GERMANY - NO DAMAGE
7-J.R.TORREY RAZOR CO. - NO DAMAGE
8-GEBR. WEYERSBERG - OHLIGS - SOLINGEN - #2 BUGLE STAMPED - NO DAMAGE
9-CROWN & SWORD RAZOR WORKS - WALD.- GERMANY - WEIRD BLADE
10-T. HESSEN - BRUCH & CO. - GERMANY - BEAR HOLDING STAFF - NO DAMAGE
11-GENCO - MASTER BARBER - GENEVA,OH - NO DAMAGE
12-H.M. CHRISTENSEN CO.- BROCKTON,MASS - NO DAMAGE
13-OHIO FARMER - H. BOKER & CO. - STAMPED TREE - NO DAMAGE
14-ED.WECK & SON - N.Y.- USES REPLACEABLE BLADE, NO BLADE - NO DAMAGE
15-DURHAM - DUPLEX - NO DAMAGE
16-WECK & SON - N.Y. - NO DAMAGE
17-NAME WORN OFF - CAN ONLY MAKE OUT - BONN - NO DAMAGE
18-M.L. KING - HAND FORGED - FREMONT,OH - NO DAMAGE
19-GEO. W. KORN RAZOR MFG. CO. - LITTLE VALLEY,N.Y. - NO DAMAGE
20-GENEVA CUTLERY - GENEVA,OH - NO DAMAGE
21-HATCH CUTLERY - KENSINGTON,IL - NO DAMAGE
22-THE ARTIST - MGR. NAME WORN OFF - 1/4" MISSING ON SMALL END
23-KRUSIUS BROTHERS - GERMANY - #98 KB EXTRA - NO DAMAGE
24-HOLLEY MFG. CO. - LAKEVILLE - HANDLE IS BADLEY CHIPPED WITH SMALL MISSING PIECES.
25-H. BOKER & CO. - GERMANY - FEATHER WEIGHT - STAMPED TREE - NO DAMAGE
26-#5 JAHRE GARANTIE - SOLINGEN - STAMPED WOLF OR DOG - NO DAMAGE
27-WADE & BUTCHER - SHEFFIELD,ENGLAND - STAMPED ARROW - NO DAMAGE

I suppose you gotta ask your self if you would pay about 6.50 for each of them if they sold individually (deducting th obvious junk) and if there is one that you wouldn't pay 6.50 for, up the cost for each of the rest and see if you would be willing to pay that. I once did thid for a lot of about fifty and by the time I finished there wasn't a single razor in the lot that I would have paid for had they been broken up and sold. I for instance can see about four or five there, other than the ones you mentioned, That wouldn't be worth 6.50 to me. Then I look at the rest and say are these all worth at 10.00 buck to me, again I can see a few I wouldn't pay ten buck for.

I guess I have a good method for convincing youself not to buy a big lot of razors. If it heps you curb your RAD, your welcome.

Wildtim,
Thanks for your input. I've already been playing that game with myself, and while it might keep me from picking up the lot, I'm not to sure if it'll stop RAD - but thanks for trying. Like I said there are those I know are worthless, those I think would work well, and those I'm not to sure about. I'll post my list below and appreciate if some of the more experienced restorers (like Wildtim) would chime in. Maybe you see something I don't see or don't even know to look for. I know DE razors but not straights. I don't know if the seller will split the lot, but I'm willing to try if there are a decent number of razors.

Thanks again,
BJ


Worthless razors (or those I'm not interested in):
2,3,7,9,14,15,16,17,18,26

Worthwhile:
1, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 27

Not sure about:
4,5,12,22,23

I count 19 usable razors there, so at $150 thats a pretty decent buy, but I am looking at it as there are 19 razors that I could restore.....

I really like Tim's logic and I agree with Glen completely. Like Glen, I see razors that are "good" but like Glen said, good means they would need restoration.

I don't have nearly the experience that many do here, but that said, I have had the opportunity to look at decide on purchasing three different lots of razors (25, 40ish and around 100). I bought the 25 lot and did get a few very nice razors out of it. Overall though, in retrospect I paid too much for the lot. In the end, after restoration, not including my time, I'll probably break even (factoring in time....a big money loser). The 40ish I passed because the overall price was too high. The 100ish, also price too high overall but I was able to pick some razors out of the lot to purchase.

This leads me up to what input I can give on buying razors in lots. In all three of my experiences, I was buying from antique dealers who think crap razors are worth more than they are and that absolutely worthless razors are in their opinion worth something. "I wish I looked that good if I was 150 years old!", "It's an artifact; it's supposed to look like that for that age". etc. On those lots, talking to the owners prior to seeing the razors, the way they talked them up, I thought I was going to strike gold. After the experiences, I really like Tim's logic since I know now MOST razors in a lot are going to be unimpressive to literally worthless but....the owners are going to want to assign a value to them when many should just go in the garbage (large chipped blades with junk scales, celluloid rot, disintegrating edges, cracked broken scaled frowning bladed razors, etc.

If you COULD get that lot for $150 and you're wanting to try your hand at restoration, I actually think the price is fair. IMO by no means is it a steal for you. But, I wouldn't have been surprised in the least if you had said in this post that the seller wanted double or even triple that amount (which again, IMO would be way too much to spend).

Chris L

For restoration practice it may be worth it, though you should conceder, the seller may already done some research and priced the lot accordingly…. you should negotiate… I am sure they herd of eBay.

Here is my suggestion:
There are 4 non-straight razors 2 14 15 16… tell them you are not interested in non-straights. That should cut the price down some…

9 is a broken razor… but the scales look to be good
5 21 22 24 have broken scales (you could practice scale making)
5 10 23 are badly rusted and may or may not take a good edge
The best of the lot (undamaged) seems to be 6 8 27
I would only attempt to repair, 3 4 5 10 13 21 23 24.

So here is the deal… offer them $50 (and negotiate up to no more than $70) for 3 4 5 6 8 10 13 21 23 24 27 only… and they should show gratitude by throwing in 9.