More Old Stuff

Found these in a local antique store yesterday. First up, a bakelite handled Gillette Tech. It's in fairly nice condition, except for one chip in the base of the handle. It would make a pretty good daily shaver.



The same trip also yielded this nice old shaving mug. Nothing fancy, just a good solid mug about 100 years old, give or take.

AD - Take Three

Another round of flea marketing and antiques at the September Gold Rush in Rochester last weekend.

I managed to escape with only a little travel razor from Germany, vintage maybe 1930's or 1940's(?) and an old porcelin shaving mug.

Pictures to follow, although the mug has already been pressed into service.

Also, my lovely wife was at the Mall of America yesterday. She noticed the new Art of Shaving store there and ducked in for a quick look. She came out with a sample pack of pre-shave oil, shaving cream, and aftershave.

I'll report on those directly as well.

More New Stuff or, "I'm Buying and I Can't Stop!"

Gold Rush Days in Oronoco, MN last weekend. This is a huge flea market / antique fair, and there's a sister show that's similar just down the road in Rochester the same weekend.

Sure enough, my Acquisition Disorder kicked in again.

In Oronoco on Friday I made off with three DE razors (1960s Super Speed with case, 1960s Adjustable with case, and a Thick Handle Tech), an Old Spice mug, and a reference book of 1000 straight razors priced and illustrated. Total spend - $19.00.

Saturday in Rochester I did even better: three razors - a nickel plated Ball-end Tech (appears new & unused, with thick paper insert showing where the blade goes, but has some pitting), a Fat Boy Adjustable, and an older gold tone Ball-end Tech in Bakelite case. Total spend - $7.00.

All razors except the 1960s Super Speed will require some clean-up. That particular razor looks to be new-in-the-case. Even has a metal pack of blades still sealed in cellophane.

Better pix to follow!

New Stuff - First Look

Lisa and I were in South Dakota in late June and early July.

As we always do, we stopped in every antique store we saw, and this is a first look at my booty.

More to follow when I get it all cleaned up.

I'm Back!

Geez...! Has it really been six months since I posted here!? That was a BAD sidetrack.

Anyway, I'm back. I've been shaving every 5 - 7 days in the mean time. Mostly with the Derbys. the current blades are getting close to being finished. I'll hav to come up with some way to objectively rate them. The only thing I have to compare them to is six month old memory of the Wilkinsons.

Lisa and I took a drving trip to S. Dakota in late June - early July. We stopped at numerous antique stores on the way there & back, and I picked up several old Gillettes, a very cool silver and glass shaving mug (probably actually silver plate), and brush.

I'll get photos and publish in a separate post.

More Cool New (Old) Stuff!

Lisa and I just got back from our annual trek - a week at the jewelry trade shows in Tucson. We took a day off mid-week and toured around town to several antique stores and malls. At one of our first stops I found these two treasures - a shaving mug, circa 1870 (so the tag says), and a travel shaving brush, vintage unknown. Please comment, and I'll get better photos posted when my camera batteries recharge.

Shave of the Day - Jan. 24

The ShaveMyFace.com resident blade connoisseur, Squire, sent me a stick of Arko Shave Soap a couple of weeks ago (along with a nice sampling of blades and a couple of vials of cologne - see below. Many thanks, Squire!). Due to circumstances I only got to trying it this morning.

I followed his advice and chopped and mushed it up and pressed it into a mug. I have to say, using the trusty Tweezerman brush, I was able to whip up a MUCH better lather than I have with the Williams I've been using up to this point. Went on my face nice & thick, and stayed. There was enough lather left in the mug for a second pass, and even a third, even though I don't do three. The lather remained nice & thick all the way through my second pass as well, another plus. Having the lather thin out or collapse during my second pass has been an issue with the Williams.

All in all, a nice close shave with my Gillette Gold Tech loaded with a Wilkinson blade, and the Arko.

Even more to my delight, the Arko did this at a time when I all of a sudden realized my water softener was out of salt and we've been bathing with a fine clear limestone dust instead of actual liquid H2O. Can't wait to shave again when the water goes soft in a day or two.

One last thing - this stuff is about $1.33 per stick when purchased in bulk (15 sticks) from Amazon.com.

New Goodies

Lisa and I took the day yesterday and sent spelunking in our favorite antique haunt, Stillwater, MN. I came home with some new-old goodies - a Gillette Tech razor and a silverplate shaving cup/ scuttle.

The gold tone Tech seems to be unused and in near pristine condition. There are just a few minor marks that seem to be from handling, certainly not from shaving use. I don't know a lot about these, and always thought they predated the butterfly safety razors, however, a quick check of the internet indicated that it could be a vintage as recent as the 1970's.

Here are a couple of photos for your viewing pleasure:

The shaving cup/ scuttle is another story. I don't know much about scuttles and thus, I don't know for sure how function follows form in this instance. It's two-piece, with a main cup and a shallow bowl insert that I assume is for a cake of shaving soap. Comments are welcome here, in case anyone has more info on origin or usage.

The halmark on the bottom indicates the cup was manufactured by the Eureka Silver Co. (I haven't researched it yet) and is quadruple plated. The number 260 is also stamped on the bottom near the halmark - perhaps a production run number?

Also, the initials JFY or JYF are engraved on the cup, obviously by hand as there is a slight tilt to the engraving orientation. I apologize for the slight glare in the photo.

Here are some photos:

Let me know what you think!