New antique store finds

Hi all. I popped into a little antique shop I'd never been into a couple days ago. Three feet from the door was a little glasses case with two Gillette TTOs. I asked the owner if they had any more shaving stuff and was rewarded with a decent Wade and Butcher straight in the original box. He made me a deal on all three and away I went. Here's what I picked up:


From what I can tell they appear to be a Slim Adjustable with a date code of M-1 do it should be 1st quarter of 1967. It's very clean and seems to have had very little use. The adjuster is very crisp and has no slop.

The second, I BELIEVE, is a '40s style super speed. I haven't found a date code, although I'm not sure exactly where it should be. It's a little grungy but I think it'll clean up pretty well.

Am I right about these IDs?



Thanks in advance,

Zach

Yes you are right. Nice finds there. The '40s Style Super Speed was made from '47 to '54, but they only introduced the date codes in the 3rd quarter 1950, starting with V3 . So it means yours was made in the '47- '50 period. If it the center bar is not notched you can narrow it down a little more as those are the first being made in '47 . If it has a notched center bar can be '48 to middle '50.

Thank you. It DOES have the notched bar, so it looks to be the later of the non date code super speeds. These have certainly been the nicest I've seen for a decent price. I left my name, you know, just in case something comes through the door!

flashover604 said:

Thank you. It DOES have the notched bar, so it looks to be the later of the non date code super speeds. These have certainly been the nicest I've seen for a decent price. I left my name, you know, just in case something comes through the door!

Click to expand...

It's always good to do that. We never know what they can get you, for a decent price which starts to be rare these days.

Can you tell us how much $$$$?

$5 apiece for the TTOs and $10 for the Wade and Butcher straight. Not the cheapest I've paid so far but I think it's the best bang for the buck. Out the door for less than $22 with tax.

5 bucks for a beautiful Slim is a steal!

Congrats.

I'm pretty happy with the slim. It's really clean. Definitely the cleanest non-new razor I've bought yet. I don't think it saw much use. I'm going to Scrubbing Bubbles both of them and give them a shot. I haven't used a tto yet so I'm anxious to see what the difference is from a three piece style. I've got a few older razors and each one has it's own feel. I like them all so far but really can't put my finger on why. My Contract Tech was my first vintage razor and also my first Cerakoted razor. I love the look, feel and performance of it. My 1911 Single ring is just a cool old rake that shaves very well. I stumbled across it in an antiques mall and thought I'd found an elusive double ring but later learned exactly where those two rings are SUPPOSED to be. (hint: it's not down at the bottom of the handle where there are two rings). It's also the first silver one that I cleaned with the baking soda and tin foil method. I understand WHY that process works but I wasn't prepared for how WELL it works. Holy Cow that turned out nice. I've also been wanting to try my hand at cleaning up an old straight. Maybe even trying to make a new set of scales. Who knows... Maybe I'll keep them, maybe they'll make their way to the BST. Only time will tell! For now I have a renewed hankering to go look around the antiques places again!

Plating loss on Super Speed (Left) versus Slim (right)



The Super Speed still needs some attention but I think it'll clean up enough to be a decent razor.

UPDATE:
I was driving past yet another little antiques place yesterday that is NEVER open when I'm near it. It was my lucky day as the owner was there late (and he had just put up a 50% off sale poster).

I walked in, said hello, and asked if he had any shaving stuff. He showed me.a shaving mug that turned out to be a tea mug with a separate spot for your used tea bag. It looked like a shaving mug, but you'd never fit a brush in it. I looked around a little and found two Schick razors, a no date code Super Speed, a 1970 P-1 black handle super speed, and this goofy looking, huge handled, oddly shaped head, gold double edge razor. I helped him remove the blades for others safety as I didn't have any cash on me and he didn't take credit cards. I asked if he'd hold the Gillettes for me until today and he made me a deal on all three DEs. $20 for the two super speeds and a Stahly Live Blade since I'd helped him remove those blade.

I love antique shops...

Nice finds! And at an amazing price.

Congratulations. Enjoy those.

The Stahly is definitely different. That this one is broken is partly the reason for the price. Jnyost and I are going to try our hand at obscure razor repair.

View attachment 437746

View attachment 437747 Not good...
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And now it works!!!

Many MANY Thanks to Jnyost for finishing it for me!!!

Glad to help. I am seriously impressed with that razor. The amount of detail and precision in the mechanism is just amazing.

I figured I had your attention when I told you I had a razor with a transmission....

Wow. Glad I found this thread. Good deals in the Gillettes and the straight, but that Stahly is really amazing. Incredible precision and must have cost a fortune to manufacture.

Apparently the chrome Stahly sold for around $19.99 and the gold one was $24.99 at a time when all the other razors were under $10. My buddy has put it through a couple shaves and says that it's a unique but still close shave. I'm looking forward to giving it a shot!