Vintage Personna Blades (post *74's production)

Iron Horse 1928 said:

I was able to buy these Personnas on eBay. I was secretly hoping they might be *74's. No such luck. I still thought I would be getting good blades.

I was interested to know if anyone might have some more information on these Personnas. Date?

The red lettering piqued my curiosity as well as marked Platinum Chrome on the blade itself.

The listing only had a picture of the package. Upon receiving the blades, the back of the package has no markings and is blank. I dispensed a blade for the picture.

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Is there any writing on the back of the package or is it blank? If there is writing, a picture would be nice. I wonder if these are for a non-US market? I have never seen this product before. It has the early to mid-60's lettering on the blister pack, but post-P74 like graphics on the dispenser (although they are not identical).

As noted, blank back with no writing.

haiti222 said:

Is there any writing on the back of the package or is it blank? If there is writing, a picture would be nice. I wonder if these are for a non-US market? I have never seen this product before. It has the early to mid-60's lettering on the blister pack, but post-P74 like graphics on the dispenser (although they are not identical).

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I am not sure about the possibility of these Personna blades being packaged for a non-US market. This is why I posted this post to inquire if any other members have any knowledge of the time frame of this example of package.

For clarification, below is the front and the rear of the 2004 (top) dispenser as well dispenser in question (below).

Interesting to note that the rears are similar to each other (timeframe?) The earlier version posted example of pictures is more consistent with *74's or am I mistaken?

Earlier in the thread, I posted examples of the various packaging and dispenser examples.

The NOS Personna Platinum Chrome blade with the ATT R-1 yielded a BBS shave result on a three day growth. It shaved as well as NOS Personna Super Platinum Chrome blades.

I am still interested if anyone has any further information on the timeframe or variation of this blade or packaging.

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haiti222 said:

Is there any writing on the back of the package or is it blank? If there is writing, a picture would be nice. I wonder if these are for a non-US market? I have never seen this product before. It has the early to mid-60's lettering on the blister pack, but post-P74 like graphics on the dispenser (although they are not identical).

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The eBay seller was kind enough to forward the original box the blister packs came in. Perhaps this might help narrow down a timeframe.

The mention of Phillip Morris on the carton is probably significant. I would guess contemporary with later P74 production. Maybe for market segmentation? Or for barbers?

The Phillip Morris on the box means it's pre 1978. Also note that the dispenser has made in USA on it while the later one does not. The patent for the dispenser was assigned in 1970, so the blades are newer than that. Also, the trade dress to me says early 70's. That dispenser was introduced with the P74 in America, I believe. Thus, I believe you have blades that were clearly made during the exact time that the P74 was made (1970-78), but with a platinum coating rather that the titanium coating that a P74 has. They may have been for export (although not to Canada because they would have had French too). They also may have been for another channel, like a discount store like Kresge or Woolworths. In fact, they indicated a plan to have a lower priced platinum coated blade here in their 1970 plans. http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2021...ml?pattern=personna[a-z]*|platinum[a-z]*&#p16

Also, even though the blades were made in the US, there is an article in the Phillip Morris news in 1970 that indicated Personna International was releasing a new Personna Platinum that was developed in Virginia, but was going to be made in the UK. They also may have made some in VA. http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/1005081166-1173.html?pattern=personna[a-z]*|platinum[a-z]*&#p5


Also, Personna was making platinum-chromed name brand blades during this time period. Here is an ad for the Double II (1976) which clearly shows it is platinum-chrome coated and not titanium- http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2040...ml?pattern=personna[a-z]*|platinum[a-z]*&#p27

Haiti 222:

Interesting information regarding the timeframe of this blade. Thanks for posting.

I had a second shave with this blade today in an English Flat Bottom Tech and it was excellent. This blade is very smooth.

I have limited my research for the most part to this site and didn't realize that Personna was potentially producing another DE razor blade at the same time as the *74's. I guess that would make sense when you consider Gillette's and Schick's product production at this time.

I guess I am surprised at the minimal information of this Personna blade version.

Interesting thread, guys. Very informative. I am always impressed with the knowledge available here.

I don't know why, but every time a Personna thread pops up I'm all over it?!

Iron Horse 1928 said:

I have limited my research for the most part to this site and didn't realize that Personna was potentially producing another DE razor blade at the same time as the *74's. I guess that would make sense when you consider Gillette's and Schick's product production at this time.

I guess I am surprised at the minimal information of this Personna blade version.

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The cool thing about Personna is that, a lot of the documents when it was owned by Phillip Morris are online as part of the smoking lawsuits. I have never seen this version either. I was able to buy a collection of blades from an ex-employee that also had Personna Titanium (pre-74) in the plastic dispenser from the 60's and GEM DE in the same dispenser as the ones in this thread. They all are very rare with little known about them. The Titaniums were super-aggressive.

Iron Horse 1928 said:

...I guess I am surprised at the minimal information of this Personna blade version.

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There is a ton of info available. Go to Google and search "Badger & Blade Personna 74". The Search function on this website is weak. Google is better.

Boge said:

There is a ton of info available. Go to Google and search "Badger & Blade Personna 74". The Search function on this website is weak. Google is better.

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I think he was talking about the early 1970's Personna Platinum that was on sale at the same time as the P74.

haiti222:
As I was perusing eBay, I came across these examples, both made in Great Britain. I immediately thought of your earlier comment based on your research about possibly being produced in the U.K.

No photos of the actual blade for comparison.

Yes, the one in the first picture is similar to another blade in the grab bag I bought from the ASR employee. Almost all the blades packs were open with one blade used. That has not stopped me from trying many of the various blades, and they do have their differences.

I dug them out- here is the Personna collection.

Link to larger image: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7lcwh7YEpfRbTlQZ1U2WFJ0VWs/view?usp=sharing

haiti222 said:

Yes, the one in the first picture is similar to another blade in the grab bag I bought from the ASR employee. Almost all the blades packs were open with one blade used. That has not stopped me from trying many of the various blades, and they do have their differences.

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Do any of the actual blades have the markings "Platinum Chrome"?