What Gillette razor do I have here?

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by Admiral Beez, May 1, 2013.

  1. Admiral Beez

    Admiral Beez Active Member

    Hi folks, I'm glad I found and have joined this forum. After decades of plastic razors I've purchased a Gillette safety razor online. As a UK-born Canuck and owner of a 1969 Triumph motorcycle I like most Made in England things. So, I've been looking for a Made in England Gillette Rocket.

    Below is what I bought, and rec'd today. It's in excellent condition, but I don't think it's Made in England as it doesn't have the Made in England stamp underneath. On the underside there is a Gillette stamp and a "X" in one corner. There is nothing whatsoever printed inside where the blade goes. It doesn't say "Rocket" anywhere on the razor itself.

    The plastic case says "Razor Made in England", so I wonder if this is not the correct razor for this case, or if the Canadian-spec razors did not have the "Made in England" stamp.

    The advert for the Razor claimed it was a Gillette Rocket in a case saying Made in England underneath. It was $25, so still an okay buy even if the razor is not correct for this case.

    Can the experts here tell me what I bought?
     

    Attached Files:

    jkarp_53, GlennConti and alpla444 like this.
  2. Weeper Warrior

    Weeper Warrior Well-Known Member

    Looks like a 40s Super Speed in a Rocket case but the razor should have made in USA on it.

    X1 is the date code, Which is first quarter of 1952
     
  3. Erik Redd

    Erik Redd Lizabeth, baby, I'm comin' to join ya.

    From this, it looks like a 1940's style Superspeed with a 1952 date code (X=1952 and 1=first quarter). It doesn't say made in USA though, and it doesn't say made in England, which the Rocket photo below does have.
    http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Gillette_40s_Style_Super_Speed
    [​IMG]

    WAIT, I think I found it
    [​IMG]
    The box says made in England, but the razor was apparently not marked "Made in England" and sold in Canada. Looks like your razor with a 1952 date code, so I'd say you got a good deal.
     
    alpla444 likes this.
  4. Ryan B

    Ryan B Knight of the Soapocracy

    Yeah, looks like a Rocket. Nice razor too, congrats on the score. I have an Aluminum Tech made in England and it is a fantastic shaver.
     
    alpla444 likes this.
  5. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

    First, welcome to the Den!
    Be sure to sign up for the May Newbie Give-Away.

    Great score on the razor. Enjoy!
     
  6. Admiral Beez

    Admiral Beez Active Member

    Thanks all. I was worried that I'd bought a genuine Rocket case but with an non-Rocket Gillette razor inside.

    I wonder why the Canadian-market Rocket does not have the Made in England stamp under the head or the patent info stamp inside the blade chamber. Perhaps the relevant patents were not secured for Canada and thus Gillette decided to omit the patent stamp inside the chamber.

    This is not uncommon even today - I work for a big American tech firm and we rarely secure patents in Canada if the item is already patented in the USA and EU. The thinking being that the Canadian market is too small for a competitor to bother with. However we still include the US patent info on the Canadian packaging, if only for an air of legitimacy.
     
  7. GlennConti

    GlennConti Well-Known Member

    Nice score and avatar. Don't let your wife see it though. She may not like it and there will be more groveling :rofl:.
     
    burnout961 likes this.
  8. macaronus

    macaronus Sir Nice-a-Lot

    Hi Admiral, and welcome to TSD! Great score you've got there. Happy Shavings!
     
  9. British Rockets and USA Superspeed ..... Rockets are supposed to be made in England while their USA counterpart is called the Superspeed.... "Rocket" named razors were made also in Canada.... but they are "Superspeeds"....not British rockets in 99% of cases.

    The only way to identify a British made rocket is clear :
    If you don't have the made in england stamped then it is either a Canadian Rocket (see the case lid that shows Rocket) or a US made Superspeed (the case lid says superspeed) .

    Between British Rockets and Superspeeds the mechanism is also different on some models (the red and blue tip for example) you can easily see it while turning the knob, the two razors when opening the doors have a different behavior.

    All the British Rockets definitely have the made in England Stamped in the head (as all the Gillette that were manufactured in England) in addition almost all the English Rockets have their British patent stamped (the most common being 693094 for rockets )

    British manufacturing (not only for Gillette Rockets) is a higher quality production compared to the US one, this is also why British made Gillette are much sought after and their price is also pretty much higher than their US equivalents . The most wanted among these razors are the British rocket HD and the scarce HD 500 made only for the french market....
    One of the best of these British rocket comes in the form of #59 set, heavy efficient and well balanced razor sitting in a nice grey/blue case.... but nowadays the price of these excellent shavers has inflated ....


    The name Rocket on the case shown in the pictures can be confusing.....as many people are swapping cases to get more money when reselling their razors ....

    I have seen no example of a British made razor not stamped made in England ....
     
  10. Admiral Beez

    Admiral Beez Active Member

    How about US made razor not stamped Made in USA?
     
  11. Good morning Admiral,
    I will answer your question by another one : how can you say a given razor was made in USA if it is not stamped "made in " and if you are not sure of the case or package origin ?

    as I said early it is quiet easy to compare two rockets one being made in England, the other being made in USA or elsewhere.

    As you may already know there were many Gillette plants worldwide , several in USA and England, but also in Brasil, Argentina, Canada, France ....
    The only certain fact is that all the production made in England Brasil and France was stamped AND had protective patents numbers (plus date codes after February 1950).

    Until 1950, on the one hand, the US and Canadian productions not always had "made in" on razors, sometimes it was only on case or shipper box, and on the other hand very often we could only see patent pending (on razors) for these northern american productions.
    This is why without indications or knowing the "origin" of a given Gillette identifying precisely is a serious problem... especially when in addition there is no Gillette logo on the razors head or underneath.... and this happened very often with Superspeeds, as with WW2 era "contract" techs ....
    In the worst case you even don't have a date code inside the head.... or you may have under your eyes one of the numerous Gillette clones ....

    After 1955 at least 90% of the Gillette made razors had "made in" stamped on the razor and pat number or "pat nos on pkg" or "marcas reg" or "reg US" or similar inside or underneath the head.... (earlier this "ID" info could be founded also on handles ... not razors heads )....

    I have been collecting razors for decades and in case of doubt I always refer to the existing literature, the most important reference is Phillip L. Krumholtz Gillette collectors handbook (paper copy is hard to find but you can get a Pdf version easily
    If you want to have a look at a little part of my collection, please follow the link, you will see good examples of US and British Rockets : http://sdrv.ms/VcjvE2
    (see Gillette for Gentlemen section).

    Another valuable information including detailled picts can be obtained on Joachim Düwe web site, please visit www.mr-razor.com Not all the variants are listed or pictured but this is very helpful for beginners .

    I confirm that in the related Gillette literature only UK made razors are "Rockets" (including the one sold in a red plastic case in Canada in the early 1950's -says Rocket on the lid- ), all the others must be referred to as Superspeed razors - the US name for this era razors.
    Blue and Red Tip British Rockets are hard to find in excellent or even NOS condition.


    Should you need further information / help, please PM me, I will always do my best to help .

    Regards,

    Loïc
     
  12. Peter Allen

    Peter Allen Member

    Cool,
    Proper shaver and and a Triumph motorcycle owner.
    A man after my own heart.
    Sorry I cant help with the razor, Im just getting to grip with this new, vintage, razor science, looks like a beauty tho.
    pete.
     
  13. GlennConti

    GlennConti Well-Known Member

    Great post! I found the paperback on Amazon but it is pricey even for used ($175). Here is a link to where the pdf version is for $20.00 http://coinsandmoreonline.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=15
     
  14. jkarp_53

    jkarp_53 Member

     
  15. jkarp_53

    jkarp_53 Member

    Welcome Admiral Sir:

    I agree with your post, owned a '70 Triumph T100-C as a young guy...loved the little beast. Many years later got into collecting Aladdin kero lamps and the best of them were stamped 'British-Made', which meant high quality. Your razors look great, my collection is small but there's a place for one of those when the time's right. :)
     

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