Signature King Gillette 1908 Single Ring, How Rare / Common Is It?

Intrigued · Mar 23, 2011

I picked up this King Gillette Signature Single Ring (serial no. A377857) a while back on Ebay. Since that time Ive been trying to figure out just how rare or common they are. So Im starting this thread to try and get some answers. Please post here if you have one (remember we like pictures). :001_smile

If you have one:

What is its serial number?
Does it have a case?
Does anyone have a King Gillette signature on a razor that is not a single ring?
Are there any out there that are not from 1908?
If the signature is only on a few 1908 single rings, does anyone have ideas why that is?
Have I ask enough questions? :tongue_sm

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View attachment $King Gillette case bottom.jpg

Rasierhobel · Mar 23, 2011

i would say quite rare. gillette introduced the king gillette sign before the gillette diamond. the diamond was introduced in 1908 on the cases and maybe after a very short period on the razors too. i've seen razors with the diamond from 1909. the signature on the razor was a intermediate step between no logo and the diamond one

drews50 · Mar 23, 2011

Let's put it this way, it's one of the few razors I'm still looking for. I'd love one. Count me in if you PIF it.

willyb · Mar 23, 2011

one of very few DE razors i would actually pay $ for. nice score.

Intrigued · Mar 23, 2011

Rasierhobel said:
i would say quite rare. gillette introduced the king gillette sign before the gillette diamond. the diamond was introduced in 1908 on the cases and maybe after a very short period on the razors too. i've seen razors with the diamond from 1909. the signature on the razor was a intermediate step between no logo and the diamond one

alex2363 said:
It says that Gillette started using the diamond trade mark in 1908 and that only a few razors had the King C. Gillette signature only, it's rare razor.

That's part of what makes me curious about the Signature razor. I believe that this razor and the case are original (not pieced together), yet the case has the trademark diamond. Also why doesn't King Gillettes' signature appear on single rings prior to 1908 or on the early ABC razors? It strikes me as odd that they set up the tooling to put the signature on the razors and then appear to have made so few.

I guess I hadn't ask enough questions in my original post. :blush:

drews50 said:
Let's put it this way, it's one of the few razors I'm still looking for. I'd love one. Count me in if you PIF it.

If by PIF you mean: Pry It From my cold dead fingers then maybe you stand a chance. :biggrin:

amishmotorboat · Mar 23, 2011

Rasierhobel said:
i would say quite rare. gillette introduced the king gillette sign before the gillette diamond. the diamond was introduced in 1908 on the cases and maybe after a very short period on the razors too. i've seen razors with the diamond from 1909. the signature on the razor was a intermediate step between no logo and the diamond one

I'm not so sure about that. I have a case that predates the one on display here. It is similar, in that it has the patent dates on the bottom and the diamond logo. But the case's inner lid has the word Gillette in script, and the case has a hinged clasp closure like on the early ABC sets. The razor inside has the serial number A192750.

Note: this is NOT a signed razor. Just appears to be one that has the logo appearing in 1907.

highball · Mar 23, 2011

You have seen mine. Yours is the only other one I remember seeing on the forums

vivid2012 · Mar 23, 2011

highball said:
You have seen mine. Yours is the only other one I remember seeing on the forums

looks cool stuff.

Sir Ronald · Mar 24, 2011

nice razor!! I've got me a Single Ring from 1920 and they're very aggressive. a little too aggressive for daily use, but it's great to have something from that era.

Intrigued · Mar 24, 2011

amishmotorboat said:
I'm not so sure about that. I have a case that predates the one on display here. It is similar, in that it has the patent dates on the bottom and the diamond logo. But the case's inner lid has the word Gillette in script, and the case has a hinged clasp closure like on the early ABC sets. The razor inside has the serial number A192750.

Note: this is NOT a signed razor. Just appears to be one that has the logo appearing in 1907.

Thanks for posting that one. That seems to puts the appearance of the trademark back to 1907 not 1908.

highball said:
You have seen mine. Yours is the only other one I remember seeing on the forums

Thanks for posting yours Mike. I did find this thread started by Sandcounty back in 2008. The serial no. on his is A401182. That still only makes three of that I know of.

Rasierhobel · Mar 24, 2011

thanks amishmotorboat i refered to krumholz page 122. should be another mistake^^ but a very good book for an excellent overview!

IronHammer · May 1, 2011

I am interested in this subject now since I picked one up today. I need to take time to study Krumholz and see what he says on the subject. The case is in horrible shape but it's definitely a signature Single Ring. I couldn't be happier tonight! Almost as happy as when I found my Double Ring!! :w00t:

I'll post pics as soon I get it cleaned and polished up.

Intrigued · May 1, 2011

IronHammer said:
I am interested in this subject now since I picked one up today. I need to take time to study Krumholz and see what he says on the subject. The case is in horrible shape but it's definitely a signature Single Ring. I couldn't be happier tonight! Almost as happy as when I found my Double Ring!!

I'll post pics as soon I get it cleaned and polished up.

Great!

Could you post the serial number also? Is it the same style case?

IronHammer · May 1, 2011

The serial number is A389083 -- 1908

The box is in horrible shape. It's going to take a lot of work to clean up. I may try restore it sometime, maybe not. It's the only box I have of this type.

I don't have before pics but the razor was totally black when I found it. The razor cleaned up almost perfectly. It really shines! There are two bent teeth though, I am hoping they can be straightened out. Here are the pics.

IronHammer · May 1, 2011

alex2363 said:
It says that Gillette started using the diamond trade mark in 1908 and that only a few razors had the King C. Gillette signature only, it's rare razor.

Alex, when you say "It" do you mean Waits or Krumholtz?

Intrigued · May 1, 2011

IronHammer said:
Alex, when you say "It" do you mean Waits or Krumholtz?

Waits has that information in it along with a picture of a signature on a 1908 razor guard. I didn't find any mention of it in Krumholtz.

Mark1966 · May 1, 2011

Nice - very nice!

Congrats mate! :thumbup:

alex2363 · May 1, 2011

IronHammer said:
Alex, when you say "It" do you mean Waits or Krumholtz?

waits....i misplaced my krumholtz while spring cleaning

IronHammer · May 2, 2011

Intrigued said:
Waits has that information in it along with a picture of a signature on a 1908 razor guard. I didn't find any mention of it in Krumholtz.

So far, we have the following serial numbers:

A409518 - nonicks (thread link) suspect has NO signature...verifying...
A401182 - Sandcounty (thread link)
A388088 - IronHammer (thread link)
A386011 - Highball (thread link)
A377857 - Intrigued (thread link)
???????? - Waits Compendium
A353450 - sucuri (thread link) verified NO signature
A272610 - mr-razor (image link) verified NO signature

Do we know any of the other serial numbers? Did Waits mention a serial number for that one? I still need to look back at the "Calling all Single Rings" thread to see if there were any serial numbers that fall in between these.

IronHammer · May 2, 2011

I couldn't find a serial number mentioned anywhere for Highball's signed single ring. Highball, are you out there?

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Signature King Gillette 1908 Single Ring, How Rare / Common Is It?

Intrigued

Bigfoot & Bagel aficionado.

Rasierhobel

drews50

willyb

Intrigued

Bigfoot & Bagel aficionado.

amishmotorboat

highball

vivid2012

Sir Ronald

Intrigued

Bigfoot & Bagel aficionado.

Rasierhobel

IronHammer

Intrigued

Bigfoot & Bagel aficionado.

IronHammer

IronHammer

Intrigued

Bigfoot & Bagel aficionado.

Mark1966

alex2363

IronHammer

IronHammer

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