Quote Originally Posted by Rsq View Post
The reason i like to replace them is that they are often quite boring. I replace the generic black or yellow plastic with something like snakewood inlaid with abalone or an inexpensive but aesthetic gemstones over a brass liner. They are objectively nicer looking, but would be a shame to invest time and expensive materials and end up with something worth less than it was before
Since I just went back through your posts and see no pics of these scales the answer is "How would we know"

Certain Razors have huge value in intact scales (DD, Puma, Craftsman,) Other's have the value in the steel (Filarmonica, Henckels) just naming a few that come to mind at this time in the morning...

As to Snakewood (very dense heavy wood) with inlays, and Brass with gemstones the very first thing that jumped in my head was Weight and Balance... Scales have to be, yes objectively good looking to the owner, but hugely more important, functional first.. I say this as I send home a Dovo I just honed, with some beautiful Burl wood w/ SS lined scales that someone even did engine turning on, that is very good looking, but nearly impossible to strop because of the balance issue....

But in general the value is based on the condition of the overall razor, an NOS #14 Barbas Duras Filarmonica will often fetch way more than some of the finest customs in exotic material ... Which is why we don't do actual valuations on SRP, for it like beauty, is truly in the eye of the beholder...