Damaskeene with Frankenhandle..?

[Henrik]

I don´t know how I ended posting in this section in the first place. I am a DE man and the SEs never interested me really. However-from a friendly member here I acquired a beautiful Schick Golden 500 together with the dreaded OCCM. I love both. Much.

Next move was to look for a Damaskeene. Well, yesterday I did in fact received the Damaskeene (shipped from U.S) that I won a week ago. What caught my attention when I spotted it in the first place was the handle. I liked it a lot. The handle it´s not the ordinary (shorter?) one. I bet this one is a stranger right? So what do you figure? What razor did this handle belong to in the first place? Any ideas?? The head of the razor is the old type by the way (GEM Cutlery). The overall condition is great and I am VERY pleased with this piece.

Lastly- the shave I got this morning was an experience. Simply great. Smooth as silk and very effective. And ain´t it´s something very special with the glow from old nickel- not comparable really with the DEs released decades later??
Sorry for the poor pics by the way.

[Henrik]

Some more pictures.

[fcdiscus]

I saw that one on ebay. It is definately not a damaskeene handle- but as long as it works well for you- thats all that counts.

[MacDaddy]

It might actually be an original handle. There was a crossover between the GEM Junior Bar and the 1912 Damaskeene in the set below that had a similar open-ended handle (to fit a stropping attachment) as opposed to the solid handle you might be used to seeing on a Damaskeene:



The handle that you've got there, Henrik, is exactly the same as one that I have on a couple of my Kampfe Bros. Star razors (see the photo below which was from another member, Ignatius), and they would have been merged back into the American Safety Razor Company at that point [see my later comment below]. So it's conceivable that there could have been some cross-over there as well. Of course, it's also possible that someone just swapped a Star's handle onto your Damaskeene head there, too.

[Henrik]

Bingo! So a Star handle. Thanks Porter. Sounds plausible and I guess we never will know for sure if these "Star" handles were put there on these old Damaskeene heads in the first place. If so that would been done around 1919 just before the "Brooklyn" heads started to appear.

I like this handle A LOT. Looks sligthly longer than the usual one(?), a most graceful neck, neat knurling and the rings at the end of the handle. I am very keen to try other handles that would fit this head. Any suggestions from you more experenced fellows with a more vast collection..? I only got.. hrmm (cough, cough) ...two traditonal SEs.

[MacDaddy]

Sorry, I misspoke above. These would have been from before the actual reincorporation of the companies into the "American Safety Razor Corporation," which was in 1919. I know that I've seen a source that implied a much earlier business arrangement than that between the companies, but I can't turn it up at the moment. So until I can get that sorted I'm going to strike my earlier comment.

[alex2363]

Sorry, I misspoke above. These would have been from before the actual reincorporation of the companies into the "American Safety Razor Corporation," which was in 1919. I know that I've seen a source that implied a much earlier business arrangement than that between the companies, but I can't turn it up at the moment. So until I can get that sorted I'm going to strike my earlier comment.

You can be right, it could have been a earlier arrangement. By 1905 -06 The Gem Cutlery co. together with Zinn enterprise ( Mary,Martin, and Arthur Zinn) was marketing the GEM rib-back-blade and Zinn weedge blade safety razors similar to the Ever-raady razors. Its probable that GEM and Zinn were affiliated with American Safety Razor ASR early then. The realationship was not made public til 1919 GEM Cutlery Co. became GEM Safety Razor Corp a subsidiary of ASR

[Henrik]

Thanks Alex and Porter. Always a pleasure to have you fellows onboard whenever there is a journey through the past.

[MacDaddy]

You can be right, it could have been a earlier arrangement. By 1905 -06 The Gem Cutlery co. together with Zinn enterprise ( Mary,Martin, and Arthur Zinn) was marketing the GEM rib-back-blade and Zinn weedge blade safety razors similar to the Ever-raady razors. Its probable that GEM and Zinn were affiliated with American Safety Razor ASR early then. The realationship was not made public til 1919 GEM Cutlery Co. became GEM Safety Razor Corp a subsidiary of ASR

Actually, as I understand it Gem and Ever-Ready merged in 1906 under the new name, "American Safety Razor Company," but continued to operate as separate brands in the market. Then in 1919 they reorganized along with the Kampfe Bros. "Star" brand under the name, "American Safety Razor Corporation," but again with the separate brands functioning as divisions within the corporation. What isn't clear is whether there was some amount of cooperation with Star ahead of that 1919 date.

Separately, I've been digging into the Zinns recently. What I do know so far is that Mary Zinn was the widow of Simon Zinn who was in the metal goods business in New York City after the Civil War. Martin and Arthur were two of their sons, and together with their mother they continued to operate their father's business under his name after his death in 1897.

August Scheuber had already been working with Simon before his death, so there's a logical connection to the Zinns there. Prior to the founding of the Gem Cutlery Company, Scheuber had been designing purse frames and closures. Looking at the kind of work he was doing there, things like the flip closures and Gem's "Bar" would have been right up his alley.



What I'm guessing at is that it was the Zinns provided the early financing (they lived on the Upper West Side just off of Central Park with three servants -- probably fairly well to do) and already had established manufacturing facilities, and Jeremiah Reichard brought his experience from working with the Kampfe Bros. and his own designs for the earliest Gem razors.

Once I get a bit more info collected here I'll start a new thread on it.

[amishmotorboat]

I think the earlier cooperation you're remembering is in a thread about one of those capless oddballs that are 1914-ish and have shown up with different names on them. I'll do some digging to see if I can find it.
edit: Here is one of the threads. Within are pics of two different razors, one gem and one star, which are identical and at least one has the 1914 'little lather catcher' patent. http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...-it-What-is-it