Possibly sent back for repair in the 1920's ?

[Aschecte]

I am not new to collecting vintage razors, but I have also never bought a vintage that was advertised with photo's as being in excellent condition , but when received in my opinion was in "very good" condition. Now I can live with this as it was a fairly rare razor in the "new improved series". Here is my question on the razor is the typical Gillette Logo in Diamond indicating it was after 1911 and I know this was from 1924 anyway. Also the serial number on the baseplate as it is a 2-piece design. BUT now here is the kicker on the underside on the right is a capital letter "G" stamped as well inside of a letter "D". To my knowledge that was an indicator that the razor was sent back for repair or was a defect and re manufactured either as the factory messed up or the owner broke it and had the razor repaired, am I correct with this ? I will take pictures if needed to show exactly what I am referring to. This razor is rare... It was not cheap, but I am curious about how it was advertised to what I actually received. What does that "G" inside the "D" stamp indicate ? A few unrelated google searches say the G and the D is very rare and means what I think but that itfor some reason increases the collectability due to the small amount that was ever sent back to Gillette. thanks in advance.

 

[chris.hale]

General consensus is that it's a stamp used on gold or silver plated razors that were imported into Europe, the repair theory being largely debunked by the appearance of the G in D stamp on some NOS razors someone had.

found a thread discussing this here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/246887-G-inside-D-repair-stamp

 

[Aschecte]

REALLY !!! That is encouraging. considering I did not want to have a defective vintage razor. Thanks for the input !

 

[nuclearblast]

Could you post some pics?

 

[MacDaddy]

Yes, Chris is correct. Our current best guess is that this mark was something required by (at least) the French government on plated goods being imported. We've seen it on both gold and silver plated razors and cases from the Old Type era up through the NEW. It's not exactly rare, but it's less common now since it was only stamped on goods for a limited portion of the market. There is absolutely nothing at all to the notion that it was added as a repair stamp, in my opinion.

 

[Aschecte]

Could you post some pics?

These photo's really accurately show what my Big Fellow has stamped on it but yes I will post some photo's in a bit of my razor as well. Not any different than above, though. I'll be happy to post the pics just because it's a great looking razor in the original wooden box and all.

 

[chongo gordo]

I uncovered a G-in-D mark after polishing a very tarnished silver razor. 1920's France? Yep, that's a keeper.

 

[Morman Bridge]

The only indications that a razor was repaired at the factory are an LXXXXXX serial number in addition to a regular serial number. One set of numbers on each side of the upper guard plate. I have a couple Pocket Edition sets with repair numbers as well as the normal serial numbers.

 

[MacDaddy]

The only indications that a razor was repaired at the factory are an LXXXXXX serial number in addition to a regular serial number. One set of numbers on each side of the upper guard plate. I have a couple Pocket Edition sets with repair numbers as well as the normal serial numbers.

According to Krumholz, they also stamped a secondary serial with an "X" suffix on repaired razors during the New Improved era, but I don't believe I've ever seen one of those to be able to confirm that for myself.

 

[Morman Bridge]

Here's a photo of what I'm talking about.