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Our first treasure hunt

So my dorm neighbor (Ron Burgundy on here) and I went hunting for razors today at an antique shop near our school. After scoping the place out a few days earlier we had decided that it didn't look very promising (It looked predominantly like a women's clothing store, a lot of vintage looking dresses/blouses/and some VERY strange hats.) but the store was closed and we didn't get a chance to check it out.

Early this afternoon we decided to bite the bullet and give it a shot. We walked in (probably the only guys there and definitely the youngest in the store by a good 30 years) and approached the desk, there was a long line, and I was ready to walk back out, but my good friend walked onward and I followed suit. I was browsing through a collection of old cameras, but he made a bee-line for a tall glass display case and on one of the lower shelves spotted our first vintage razors. We asked the clerk to see them (she was intrigued with our razor fascination) and she kindly opened the display case for us. Our haul for the day:

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Buddy's razor (we assume it's some old Gillette model, anyone care to help identify?)
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His again, we noticed that the upper plate of the head has lost it's finish, but the bottom is still golden, is it just normal wear, or a piece to a different razor? At first we thought it may be different, but the presence of finish on the bottom makes us think it's just been "broken-in" :lol:
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His on the right, and mine on the left.
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Crack number one on my razor
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Crack number two on my razor
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His again
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Took this picture to point out the (heavy?) wear on his comb, looks well used :smile:
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My original blade #1
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and #2
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The box that came with mine.

His totaled 3.19$ and mine came out to 10.64$

After being pleasantly surprised with our discoveries we looked up the nearest 10 or so antique shops around us only to discover that 5 of them weren't open on Monday :confused: (Is that some kind of unspoken rule?) and my buddy had class so we had to break off the hunt, hopefully we will resume Wednesday :smile:

So B&B, good haul for a couple of beginners?
 
I think i've got the same one as you. can't recall if that's a ball-handle NEW or not. mine also has two hairline cracks in the handle, so I choose not to use it. good score though
 
Your buddy's is a Star razor made by the American Safety Razor Co. Probably from the 1950s. ASR also made Star DE blades. I have been looking for one of these razors but no luck so far. Congratulations on the nice finds.
 
Just so you know, just about every one of those Ball Handles like the one on your razor have those cracks: the handle has a design flaw being made out of too thin a tube, and having the other two pieces of the handle pressed into it. This design resulted in the vast majority of these razors ending up with cracked handles. Many users replaced the cracked handles with a more durable handle from a Gillette Tech.

Your razor is a Gillette Old style by the way. It's a really great shaver. :tongue_sm
 
Your buddy got a Star razor. I've used mine a couple of times.

Looks like you got a Gillette pocket edition (or maybe a Brownie - depending on the case).

Both are good, gentle razors - great intros to DE shaving - and should clean up nicely with some Scrubbing Bubbles and a soft toothbrush.

Congratulations on some nice finds!
 
Just so you know, just about every one of those Ball Handles like the one on your razor have those cracks: the handle has a design flaw being made out of too thin a tube, and having the other two pieces of the handle pressed into it. This design resulted in the vast majority of these razors ending up with cracked handles. Many users replaced the cracked handles with a more durable handle from a Gillette Tech.

Your razor is a Gillette Old style by the way. It's a really great shaver. :tongue_sm

That makes me feel a hell of a lot better :smile: although I'll be honest, I was definitely going to use it anyway :lol:

Your buddy's is a Star razor made by the American Safety Razor Co. Probably from the 1950s. ASR also made Star DE blades. I have been looking for one of these razors but no luck so far. Congratulations on the nice finds.

We couldn't for the life of us figure out what it was, thank you for clearing that up for us. :smile:

I can't wait to hit up the other 5 stores we couldn't get into today and see if we can find some REAL treasures :w00t:
 
After being pleasantly surprised with our discoveries we looked up the nearest 10 or so antique shops around us only to discover that 5 of them weren't open on Monday :confused: (Is that some kind of unspoken rule?)

Seems to be the case. Most of the ones in the San Francisco bay area were closed on Monday. I have yet to check the NYC shops, but I will, since I'm here for college
 
I shaved with my DE for the first time. It was pretty much what was expected. I shaved earlier today and I think it was too much irritation for one day. My closest shave in years by far. My face feels like I never hit puberty. I could definitely get used to this.
 
a lot of antique stores are open on Saturdays, and thus shut down on Sundays and Mondays for their "weekends".
 
The price you paid for both of those razors is just about what the shipping costs would be on the BAY.

I have to say that based on price the antique shops are hard to beat.

I'm glad to hear that your going to use them as well.:biggrin:
 
Just got an easy DFS shave from the Gillette, thing is a lot more gentle than my Progress..
 
Great finds! Best of luck on your next hunt :thumbup1:.

Just so you know, just about every one of those Ball Handles like the one on your razor have those cracks: the handle has a design flaw being made out of too thin a tube, and having the other two pieces of the handle pressed into it. This design resulted in the vast majority of these razors ending up with cracked handles. Many users replaced the cracked handles with a more durable handle from a Gillette Tech.

Your razor is a Gillette Old style by the way. It's a really great shaver. :tongue_sm

I've got a Franken-razor made from those two models. Came in a lot of four, has the Star handle with the Gillette head. Likely scenario is the handle was used to replace a cracked one as described above. Still, I have to wonder what became of the head from the Star.
 
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