1905 Gillette Double Ring The wife and I went to a new vintage store today. It was pretty awesome. Too much to see. I missed the shaving section. On the way out I mentioned that if they ever got any shaving related stuff I would like to know. "Oh, you didn't see our shaving section," she replied. Well, I followed her over to a nook that had quite a few razors: Valet, Gem, Schick, Gillette, and a few straights. There were three vintage brushes too. Evidently they had belonged to an old gentleman who had just passed away a couple of weeks ago. The "booth" was run my him and his wife. She still maintained it. Anyhow, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this Gillette Double Ring. This is the first one I have ever seen in real life. I also could not believe what I saw on the tag: 25-. I took it to the clerk and asked her about it. She said it was $25. I said, "I'll take it." Below are the pictures I took after getting it home. After the pictures I cleaned up the razor. It is silver, so the tarnish remains, but I will get some silver polish and get rid of that. The serial number, 225238, indicates that it was made in 1905. This razor is 112 years old. Wow. After the initial cleaning, here is what it looks like: If I had the silver polish, I would be working on it right now. I will wait and get some when we go out tomorrow. For now, though, I have my own 1905 Gillette Double Ring razor.
Congrats. There is simply something really good about using old tools, whether for shaving or other work. Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
You know it. It was pretty grungy, but that mostly came off with not much trouble. The teeth are all there and are straight, and as you said there are no cracks on the barrel. The blade bank is wrong, but I am seeing those for $20 on eBay. I am just thrilled to have a double ring.
Goddards Silver polish, and a tooth brush. This is very very easy on silver plating. I used this on many silver plated razors, and have had zero issues. I brush it on, very liberally,and let it sit for a couple of minutes. I then use the toothbrush again, and brush some more, in all the cracks and crevices. Then use dish soap(Palmolive) to get it all off. This has worked every time.
Jim, I'm happy for ya my friend! Very nice pick up. I felt the same way about my NEW when I found it. Of course I didn't know at the time exactly what I had, I just knew it was old.
Thank you. I think I will be cleaning and polishing this razor in my sleep tonight. I am looking forward to getting rid of the tarnish. I will look into the Goddards.
Great score Jim. Those finds are the ones we remember forever. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Washing soda works better, if you have it. I picked up mine in the 'swimming pool maintenance' section of Wal-Mart. The last silver plated item I tried to use it on, however, it cleaned up the silver pretty well - but the exposed brass turned NASTY. Apparently the copper in the brass must have been MUCH more attractive to the sulphur compounds than the aluminum. So I still had to resort to other polish *sigh*.
Hm. I guess I should post up the picture of my 1907 razor. I'll have to find a contemporary case for it.
