Gondola Germany Souvenir 7 Day Straight Razor Set

I went to my first auction Friday night after work and won a 7 day straight razor set. I have two 6 of 7 day razor sets already, but this is my first complete set. My others are Wm. Elliot and Schulze. The Schulze is from WWII Germany with leather pouch.

The seller said her grandfather brought it back from WWII. I'm not sure about that. I think it has to be a little later. My Schulze straights have DRGM on the tang that stands for something like "made in the German Reich"

Each razor has a German city name, gold wash, a worked spine, top and bottom jimps and mirror finish. The blade width is from 13/16 to 7/8. Though there are some patina specks and rust on one tang.

They do not appear to have been honed after the factory honing. I believe they have the factory edge. I have several NOS German straights with factory edges that shaved right out of the box. I think that may be true of these. They pop arm hair fine.

There is no manufacturer name on the tangs, only "Gondola, Made In Germany" and on the back Hersei Solingen and an "S" in a double circle.

That's an awesome score!
I hope I luck into something like that some day.

Very cool, enjoy!

Jim

great set.

Lucky dog, congrats

Very nice, send my way for proper disposal.

Doc226 said:

Very nice, send my way for proper disposal.

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I was actually thinking of you, Alfredo. If the factory edge isn't good enough and I can't get the edge going, I may send them to you. I like the edge you put on two of my Japanese framebacks.

lindyhop66 said:

I was actually thinking of you, Alfredo. If the factory edge isn't good enough and I can't get the edge going, I may send them to you. I like the edge you put on two of my Japanese framebacks.

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Excellent.

Tomjr, Here are some photos the seller took of my Wm Elliot set before I received it.

Here's my WWII Schulze 6 of 7 day set. The scales originally had mother of pearl inlay oval. Worked spine. That heavy spine that Schulze liked. These are photos the seller took before he sent one to be restored. The "restorer" kept the Sunday razor and never returned messages from the seller.

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WOW! i love the leather case too.

tomjr said:

WOW! i love the leather case too.

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Yes, that drew me in as well. I'm guessing the leather case was original. It looks well-aged. It makes me think a well-heeled high up in the military used these, but it could just be my fantasy.

One set of scales had to be replaced with an "identical" set.

Magnificent collection !

Thanks. I tried a shave with Saturday Gondola and know I need to do a touchup. They are beauties.

Very nice set! I noticed a few German state crests on the blades too.

Sunday is Berlin
Monday is Germany
Tuesday is Heidelberg
Wednesday is Frankfurt
Thursday is Munich
Friday is Bremerhaven
Saturday is Berlin

Yes, there are crests. I started to ask how you know about the crests, but see you are from Berlin.

Do you have an idea on when these razors could have been made? Thanks for any help on this issue.

About the Schulze set I have, someone on theshavingroom.co.uk informed me " The DRGM stands for Deutsches Reichsgebrauchsmuster,and simply means that it was registerd centrally and applied to all German States as opposed to an individual state - it was a form of design protection."

I would like to know when that term was used as none of my other almost 100 straights have DRGM on them and one is a Schulze that says Weyer Solingen.

Sexxxxxy!

Very cool - the 7 day sets always intrigue me.

I went to a few antique stores in southern Virginia in Danville and on the road to Martinsville and found 5 more mostly immaculate straights. One store owner told me a retired barber sold his complete barber collection, including hundreds of straights and many 7 day straight razor sets. I wish I could have seen those.