Unusual British Single Ring

[MacDaddy]

I picked up this unusual Single Ring recently, and when I got it I found it was even stranger than I first thought. The serial number (E239300) is stamped on the smooth band at the bottom of the handle where the patent date normally is (first image), the British patent number is stamped circumferentially around the very top of the inner barrel (second image), and the top of the guard plate and the underside of the cap are both stamped with the full Gillette diamond logo including the "Known the world over" (third image).

Anyone have any guess as to what those crazy Brits were up to here?

(Sorry for the pre-cleanup pics, but this one was too strange to wait.)

http://www.g9g.org/images/razors/brit_single_ring1.jpg

http://www.g9g.org/images/razors/brit_single_ring2.jpg

http://www.g9g.org/images/razors/brit_single_ring3.jpg

[BigFoot]

I am not sure we will ever figure out exactly what Gillette was thinking or doing sometimes. Kind of like my Gold Old Type Big-fellow. I can not find reference to them existing but they do.

[alex2363]

its a ignima

[mr-razor]

I´ve the same razor and was confused too

[MacDaddy]

Does anyone know how the Old Type British serial numbering ran? This is the second British Single Ring that I've got now, and they're both "E" serials. Were all the early numbers from the England plant prefixed with "E" or have I just happened across two 1917 models less than a couple hundred thousand apart from each other? I kind of doubt that it's the latter, since I would think by that time they'd be carrying the "Made in..." stamp, which neither razor has. The case that my other British Single Ring came in also doesn't have the "Made in..." in the printing on the headliner.

I've also got a Canadian Single Ring, and it just happens to be a "C" series serial. I also had a "PC" serialed razor from a Canadian Pocket Edition that I passed along to another B&B member.

I know by the time the New Improveds came around they were using different letter suffixes for the different series from the non-US plants, but I haven't seen anything that speaks to the non-US Old Type series.

[MacDaddy]

Just dropping in this link to an older B/S/T sale for a set with the same funny stamping on the razor (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/169962-British-Single-Ring-Set).