Simpson Manchurian Brushes

There have been many sightings of this brush on this forum, but none of the vendors that I know have these for sale. The only grades vendors carry are Best and Super.

Were these brushes made for a limited time? Do they make these brushes once every 5, 7, 10 years?

What is all the mystique behind this brush?

They are pretty. Although I am not sure if they are that different than the two band Simpson's Supers. But I've never had the pleasure of trying one.

Which leads to your real question. They were made for Charles Roberts of Enchante, in Austin. The father of "method shaving." Apparently at the time, he considered them the ultimate for his method. But then he started selling his own brushes, and Manchurian fell by the wayside. I don't know if anyone else ever sold them, but I do not think so. At any rate, I am pretty sure no one does now.

-Mo

Mo has it correctly stated. They Manchurian brush was constructed with an (alleged to be) higher quality hair, (allegedly) containing more hair than other bundles of its size, and (alleged to be) shaped with gunnels, scuppers, oarlocks, baskets, breaches, crowns, fetlocks and dewclaws specifically designed for the method. Please accept some of the above as humor, but I always got a great giggle from a carney con. Oh, and if you believe the above, it was made by only one little old brush maker that had worked in the Simpson fab since before the war, er, Boer War that is..

guenron said:

shaped with gunnels, scuppers, oarlocks, baskets, breaches, crowns, fetlocks and dewclaws

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All of the above might be found on a lobster fishing boat perhaps?

Wow - I didn't know they were made for the Method! Thanks for sharing this (and no, I am not a method shaver - just thought it's an interesting trivia)

If Method shaving uses these it can't be too bad

Cheers
Ivo

izlat said:

If Method shaving uses these it can't be too bad

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Well, they were thrown off for the mighty Shavemaster. The first ever "purpose designed brush." I guess regular shaving brushes aren't designed for the purpose of shaving?

-Mo

moses said:

Well, they were thrown off for the mighty Shavemaster. The first ever "purpose designed brush." I guess regular shaving brushes aren't designed for the purpose of shaving?

-Mo

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they're designed for the purpose of fueling SBAD

Doc4 said:

they're designed for the purpose of fueling SBAD

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Ah yes, how could I forget.

-Mo

Mybe those that know can set me straight on this. From what I have read the Brushes Chaz was having simpsons make for him were supers that had extra hair added to the knot. If you look at them they were never stamped mancurian they were stamped "extra" although they were sold as being mancurian.

I have a mancurian and a two banded super both ch3. On the mancurian the white is whiter and the black is blacker. I believe this is achieved by taking a longer time and greater effort to sort these hairs. That is why they are more expensive. As for being a "better" brush than the super, I don't think that is why it costs more. I think it is rarer and takes more time to sort the hair and that is why it costs more. Kind of like buying a one ounce gold coin minted last year and one found at the bottem of the ocean in a ship wreck. Both contain the same amount of gold but one you pay 700.00 for and one you pay 20,000.00 for simply for the rarity. As far as the two brushes, I think they do the same job equally in terms of lather and imo they feel much the same. One is just a little rarer.

I would like to know, however, if anyone ever bought a brush from enchante that was sold as a mancurian but was only stamped "extra."

Actually, I have been wondering about that. Because I had heard that Manchurian brushes were simply stamped "extra." But I've definitely seen pictures of brushes actually labeled Manchurian.

-Mo

I've owned four Simpson Manchurian brushes that were subsequently sold to other forum members - they were labeled "Manchurian". The brushes that were sold by Enchante that i have personally seen were labeled "Extra Super". They are one and the same badger knots. Peter (DrP) can attest to this as well.

edit: And I can assure you that there are no "Extra Super Duper Manchurian" brushes to be had anywhere.

slcsteve said:

edit: And I can assure you that there are no "Extra Super Duper Manchurian" brushes to be had anywhere.

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Dang it! I really had my SBAD hopes up.