Otto Roth

Received a new/old razor today from an eBay seller. Something about its uniqueness had caused me to hit the bid button. An open comb, copper handle, brass base, and copper cap shaving device. While I waited, I was pretty sure I had purchased some sort of Frankenrazor.

As I cleaned it, I noticed overstamped on the Gillette logo "Otto Roth, Inc".

Initial research shows that Otto was in the [knockoff] razor business and was so successful at it that Gillette eventually bought him out and made him head of European operations. Source: SMF

Regarding my razor, the handle and cap are copper. The base plate is clearly an overstamped Gillette part. The top of the handle (screw-in part) is brass. Cleaned up nicely. Probably worth thousand$.

Anyone have any other information about the Otto Roth operation?

can you post some pictures?

These are the original shots from eBay. The copper and brass have been cleaned up since. Only the brass plate is Gillette, apparently. Probably take the razor for a careful test drive this weekend.

Looks like a Gillette NEW thick handle, produced in the 1925-1935 range or somewhere around there.

Can't help you much about Otto Roth but I can say that all the NEW's I've had have only had Gillette marked/stamped on the base plate, no other markings on the cap or handle that I remember.

You can read the story about Otto Roth (Roth-Buchner AG / Rotbart) and Gillette in the Krumholz Book page 73. The Otto Roth factory in Berlin/Germany is now the Gillette factory.

I bought what I thought was a '30s New. Turned out to be an Otto Roth:



Roth compared to Gillette. Which is which?:



Gillette left, Roth right. The patent no.'s on the Roth are the same as the no.'s on other Gillettes I have. The only real difference I can see is there is not quite as much knurling on the Gillette handle and the ball on the Roth may be just ever so slightly bigger.

Thanks for all the input.

One thing I wonder about is the longevity of a treaded copper piece, the top plate in this example. I expect that copper would wear/strip much faster than brass. My particular razor looks to have almost no wear so I can't say for sure whether it was archived or that copper stands up to use better than I expect.

Re: The Krumholz book
Looks like a great resource. Just to be sure, you're referring to the "green cover", correct?

right: the complete Gillette Collector´s handbook

I too have been looking for information about Mr. Roth since I uncovered this guy at a local antique market for $3. Does anyone know the reasoning behind the overstamping? Were Otto's knockoffs so good that Gillette just decided to use them?

The patina of this razor is reddish, something I've never seen before. I am not sure what the base metal is or with what it is plated.

bensherman said:

I too have been looking for information about Mr. Roth since I uncovered this guy at a local antique market for $3. Does anyone know the reasoning behind the overstamping? Were Otto's knockoffs so good that Gillette just decided to use them?

The patina of this razor is reddish, something I've never seen before. I am not sure what the base metal is or with what it is plated.

Click to expand...

It is gold plated and then coated with lacquer to protect the gold plate. The red tint you are seeing is the discoloration of the aging lacquer which is very normal and really shouldn't affect the value of the razor.