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How old is my Tuckaway.

Hi all. I picked up a cased Made in England silver plated Tuckaway today. I notice the wiki says these were made in the 20s. My serial number on the handle says: PAT- 133963 - 1917. Is the "1917" just part of the serial number? The number on the baseplate says 038167 Y, if that helps to narrow it down a little. Thanks in advance for any info.
 
AFAIK, there's not enough information on English serial #, same as for the Canadian New Improved ... so I guess 20s it is. :001_smile
The 1917 on the handle is when the patent was issued.

Congrats!
 
Hi all. I picked up a cased Made in England silver plated Tuckaway today. I notice the wiki says these were made in the 20s. My serial number on the handle says: PAT- 133963 - 1917. Is the "1917" just part of the serial number? The number on the baseplate says 038167 Y, if that helps to narrow it down a little. Thanks in advance for any info.

I would guess 1921, when the New Improved was first introduced. I say that simply because the serial number is so early in the Y series. The patent number might help too.

Oddly there seem to be two UK patent numbers for the New Improved: this is news to me. The one I expected to see is http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publ...t.com&locale=en_EP&CC=GB&NR=142772A&KC=A&ND=4 issued in 1920: GB142772A. The drawing shows both the guard channel and a flat guard plate that are hallmarks of the New Improved design.

Instead yours is GB133963A: http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publ...t.com&locale=en_EP&CC=GB&NR=133963A&KC=A&ND=4. The available records are in an odd state. 1917 is the application date, but there is no issue date. I wonder how that came about? The guard plate in this drawing looks like an Old Type, but with the distinctive guard channel of a New Improved.

I also see higher serial numbers with the GB142772A patent mark in previous threads:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/128301-New-Standard-Gillette-1917
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/363375-Need-Help-with-ID
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/360610-Tuckaway-date
 
Any chance we could get a pic or two? I'm inclined to agree that with a serial number that low it's probably 1921, or at least not much later since we don't yet know how high the English New Improved series ran. But there was one minor design change that might help us out here: Very early in the run, within 1921 it appears, Gillette changed the pattern of the knurling on the bottom knob of the razor handle from a simple pierced diamond pattern just like what was on the body of the handle (first image) to a much chunkier "reverse" diamond pattern (second image).

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Looks like I have the one on the left. Mine is a little brassy but has no cracks.
 

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