Featured Victorian-era Straight Razors - Cased Pair with Original Box

They took nearly three weeks to get here, all the way from Manchester in the UK, through rain and snow and sleet and hail, through blistering heat and freezing cold, through customs and quarantine, through plague and pestilence!...

...but, they finally arrived.

I bought these on eBay back at the start of the month, and they're finally here!



The set is from the late 1800s or early 1900s - either way, it's at least 100 years old. And it is in FANTASTIC antique condition.

A few marks, scuffs and scratches on the leather - nothing that a dabble with red polish and a good buffing couldn't fix, and some patina (but no rust) on the blades.

Other than those minor surface issues - not a flaw or blemish anywhere to be seen!

I've been after a cased pair of matching straights for years, and I finally got one!

The scales are made of celluloid in faux-ivory style. The seller incorrectly ID'd them as bone, and it was on that basis that I asked for (and received) a reduction in price.

I can't wait to shave with these!

 

Well worth your wait Shangas! A lovely set.

For face shaving only, or do you shave your head like my son does?

 

Considering that baldness runs on both sides of the family here, I'm in no desperate hurry to remove hair with any great haste.

My cousin lost his hair before he was even 30.

I'd like to hold onto my thick, dark tresses as much as possible

But to answer your question: I shave just my face.

 

6 pics of the box and not one of naked blades.........
you'd think it was the box you were after.................

 

Calm down, Sweeney.

 

Little Sweeny, finding that his mule was being crowded by an Apache's horse, uttered some indignant yelps.

 

Yeah, antique cutthroat razors rust at the drop of a hat. Unless they're kept BONE DRY, they'll start sprouting brown patches and waterspots faster than you can blink.

More photos incoming...

 

bad bad Leroy Brown................

 

Here we are.

I rubbed red leather-polish/shoe-polish onto the surface of the box (also leather) to cover all the scuff-marks and scratches, and to give a bit of shine back to it. I think it turned out really well!!

Next step is to sharpen the razors...



And in case anybody's curious - no, I haven't done anything to the blades apart from wipe them down. This is exactly how they came.

They have "W.H.A." engraved on them. The original owner's initials, whoever he was.

 

Which is exactly the reason my son started shaving his head in his mid-twenties.

 

Fortunately, our family is not similarly affected. Not yet, anyway. Dad didn't start thinning until he was in his 60s.

 

nice razors..

 

I WAS after the box!! You can find razors anywhere. Even identical ones, if you search hard enough.

But finding the CASE that they go in is almost impossible.