Hello and question

Hello all. I am not a collector yet but I will be shortly. Can anyone get me in contact with a serious collector? I have a unique and extremely rare item that im looking at sellin, I have had bad experience with Ebay so im not willing to sell on it.

I have a J.R torrey Oill Edge Dressing in good condition with the original wax or mink oil still paper wrapped in the tin. I have tried to get it evaluated however all have said due to the uniqueness they cannot give me a value, I have searched for over a year to try and find another to compare price etc.

The oil edge dressing was made in late 1800s early 1900s.

I have also tried several other forums too with no luck.

Thank you in advance.




Louis.

It's just a tube of strop dressing. We don't give valuations on this forum but I can't see it being worth too much.

Hello and welcome, Louis_emslie. B&B is a great forum full of friendly, helpful shavers. You will learn a lot here.

Johnmrson is correct on both counts. I don't see a lot of rarity to your dressing. Interesting and curious, yes. Valuable, not really.

Though I do have quite a bit in my collection it seems the products associated with shaving don't reflect the interest nor pricing that the razors themselves generate. Rare or unusual as they might be they can usually be had for very little. I get stuff just for the "novelty" factor and to round out the collection and show what was available at the time.

this brings to mind watching Antiques Roadshow. Rare or very old items doesn't always equate to valuable if the interest isn't there.
I'm only guessing but this may be the reason you have not had any response from other forums. Most of these guys really know their stuff and have been at this a good long while. If they see something that strikes a chord most will pay dearly for an item. Well....I know I have anyway.

My suggestion is to hold onto it until more is known. If it was made from spermaceti, for example, that would be most interesting.

Alum of Potash said:

My suggestion is to hold onto it until more is known. If it was made from spermaceti, for example, that would be most interesting.

Click to expand...

Spermaceti? That's what she said?

My experience has been that if there is not a lot of information generated from a google search, there is probably very little interest and/ or value. What I did find is that when it was manufactured, it sold for 15 cents. That would now be about $3.50 in today's dollars. It's very cool and would look great exhibited in a shave den, though!

Oh, and about spermaceti:

Not that I know anything about it, but I thought it was interesting.

Captsin Ahab recommends spermaceti strop dressing.


Then again, he has a peg leg and a beard...

Main thing to find out here is if the dressing in question here contains spermacti (sperm oil) or not. If it does, then it would be interesting by way of comparison. Jojoba oil, for example, has been alleged to be a substitute, but maybe the viscosity is different.

From a brief search it's fairly brittle and is used in conjunction with other oils. And apparently it is still found in some products today. Does that affect its value?
Or is the value of the item itself? After a year search for a collector , posting on shaving forums where the chances are fairly high for "serious collectors " to have seen it as well as a couple hundred views here the item remains.

Now lets put up say a DD Reaper in the original box unused and let's see how long it sits. Pick one site for one day and someone will raise their hand.

Old does not = Gold. Nor collectable. Like I said, watch Road show or Pawn stars.
look at the research done just here. And yet,,,,,,

Ok, I'll start the bidding at....... fiddy cents


go big or go home, I always say......

51 cents . . .

Why do I have a hunch as to where this is going ? Oh my.