white badger

[malocchio]

from an old ( 1905 ?) barber supply catalogue,notice style 1BB costs a little more than the mixed badger hair brush,but is made with "white french bristles"...wonder if this was the now extinct badger once used by plisson and rooney ...

 

[Mike H]

I do not think "White French Bristle" is badger. I think it is boar.

REPORT ON BRUSH MATERIAL AND 1HE MANUFACTURE OF BRUSHES,
BY CAPT. A. L. VARNEY, ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT.
Watervliet Arsenal, West Troy, N. Y., September 15,1883.

Most bristles which come from the colder climates are black or gray, and need not there/ore be dyed. Prussian bristles, which are generally gray, are not so long and thick as Polish and Russian. So-called German bristles are still weaker and shorter; bnt their intrinsic value, which is toughness, is greater than all others. Their color is almost wbite, termed "faded" in the terminology of the brush manufacturer. Since really no white bristles are to be found they must be bleached, which can only be done with difficulty. Only the bristles from the very top of the back of German swine can be used in brush manufacture, the others being too short and weak. In Germany, however, vers' many Polish and Russian bristles are consumed, besides those ot native growth. In Berlin particularly there aie several large factories which for the most part get their bristles from Dantzic, where merchants receive them from Polish Jews, who collect them all over Poland. These merchants export them either by the bushel or in bundles of five to ten pounds' weight to the brush manufacturers who have to assort them, as a bushel always contains several kinds. Although the exterior of the bristles may appear as if all the bristles were long and strong, yet those in the middle are frequently poor.

...Lately a great many special sizes have been sold; that is, selected bristles for special purposes, for which special prices have been paid. French bristles are of a peculiar pearly whiteness, and are assorted and dressed with great care. The "flags" are washed clean without having been broken or worn away in the process, and are, therefore, soft and white, and especially suitable for artists' and painters' tools. The finest tooth brushes are also made of French stock.

 

[malocchio]

Interesting reading !