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A B3 Date Code on a 40s Style Super Speed

I know it isn't quite clear in the pics, but it is a B3 stamped on the back of this 40s style. Am I missing something? They went V-Z, that was it right?

$20140729_134420.jpg$20140729_134512.jpg
 

nemo

Lunatic Fringe
Staff member
Switched base plate for some reason? Seems pretty peculiar to me. Maybe a forgotten old handle found in a drawer?

I'm thinking it must be a mis-stamp.

Pretty hard to accidentally stamp it with a tool that wouldn't used for five years in the future.
 
Pretty hard to accidentally stamp it with a tool that wouldn't used for five years in the future.

Not sure what you mean. They made five years worth of 40s style razors with date codes stamped on the bottom plate.

Now the switching of base plates or handles...that makes more sense.
 

nemo

Lunatic Fringe
Staff member
Not sure what you mean. They made five years worth of 40s style razors with date codes stamped on the bottom plate.

Now the switching of base plates or handles...that makes more sense.

Yes, but that "B" stamp shouldn't be available on the assembly line workbenches until 1956. :001_huh:
 
Did they only have one stamp tool for each letter/year?

Looking closer, I don't think the handle or base plate was replaced. The handle on the Flare Tips had a ring around top, and the base plate seems completely different from a 40s style. I've attached a pic of a B2 base plate (top), and the 40s in question (bottom). You can see the measurements on the slots for the center bar are completely different.
 

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I know it isn't quite clear in the pics, but it is a B3 stamped on the back of this 40s style. Am I missing something? They went V-Z, that was it right?

View attachment 477959View attachment 477960

Who has possession of this razor?

Thinking out loud.

It would be interesting to view a picture with the doors open and how the head and handle is mated.
The mirror like doors contrast greatly with the brassed and pitted baseplate like they've led different lives.
With all the pitting, that "B" could be a "Z"?
 
Who has possession of this razor?

Thinking out loud.

It would be interesting to view a picture with the doors open and how the head and handle is mated.
The mirror like doors contrast greatly with the brassed and pitted baseplate like they've led different lives.
With all the pitting, that "B" could be a "Z"?

This sounds plausible, Tom.
 
Who has possession of this razor?

Thinking out loud.

It would be interesting to view a picture with the doors open and how the head and handle is mated.
The mirror like doors contrast greatly with the brassed and pitted baseplate like they've led different lives.
With all the pitting, that "B" could be a "Z"?

I have possession of it. I'll get some more pics tomorrow with the doors open, and up close and personal on that date code. I've studied it closely, and I'm 99% sure it's a B. I'm also certain it is not the base plate from a Flare Tip and I'll point out why as well.
 
Ok, I'm thinking that the handle was changed out on a B3 Flare Tip for a 40s style. I was wrong about the base plates, they are identical for a 40s and Flare Tip. Looking at the area where the handle and head come together looks like this may be the case. To me, it originally looked like corrosion that builds up that area quite commonly with these razors. Although if it is a custom dig...whoever did it did a good job.

But it is a B on this thing:

$20140731_094954.jpg$20140731_095032.jpg$20140731_095036.jpg$20140731_095222.jpg
 

nemo

Lunatic Fringe
Staff member
Thanks for the close-up, Don.

Sure looks like a non-factory joint, the folks at Gillette always did a clean and sturdy swaging job. I'd guess a red-tip baseplate -- it looks just like one I've got, including the loss of plating. :tongue_sm
 
The red tips seem to be more prone to that pitting/brassing on the base plate than other Super Speeds. So that's not a bad guess.

I think I may shave with it and see how it goes. Thanks to everyone who chimed in. I appreciate it.
 
Thanks for the follow up and great closeups btw.

If these are repurposed parts, someone really did a MacGyver number on it for sure.
That in itself makes it collectable.
 
Thanks for the follow up and great closeups btw.

If these are repurposed parts, someone really did a MacGyver number on it for sure.
That in itself makes it collectable.


About that time in the US being a damn good machinist wasn't extremely rare, and was pretty well respected, too. Someone probably dinged up a razor, and either said, "Heck I can fix this" or maybe said, "George at work can fix this." So it came into the shop the next day, and went home as a custom work of art.

We've lost appreciation for craft labor's skill in the US these days.
 
About that time in the US being a damn good machinist wasn't extremely rare, and was pretty well respected, too. Someone probably dinged up a razor, and either said, "Heck I can fix this" or maybe said, "George at work can fix this." So it came into the shop the next day, and went home as a custom work of art.

We've lost appreciation for craft labor's skill in the US these days.
How true, how true. That was the era I was born and raised in, I'm a Y-1. My small town was a manufacturing town with big name factories. Just about everyone one I knew had a shop out back of the house with a lathe and a contract. If something broke you either fixed it or knew someone that could.
That still happens, but not like it used to.
 
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