Verdict is on the common 47/48 - 53 Aristocrat which is the one on the right in that photo. Those 2 are distinctly different razors as it turns out. The 47/48 - 53 is a lot more aggressive, you can feel it right away in the blade feel on the face and at the end of shave with how much burn the vinegar splash gave me compared to the other razors. So as it turns out the change it handle styles is where the aggressiveness of these razors significantly changes not the head style. Same as when the Aristocrat transitions into the Diplomat product line in 53, change in handle style corresponds with a more aggressive razor than the prior version. So the final results are the common 46 - 47 is still the best overall shave and closest for me anyways out of all 5. Number 2 and 2a would be the 1st 47 variant and the common 47/48 - 53 variant. The shaves are too similar for me to call one over the other for the end result. They differ in how aggressive including irritation during and after the shave. I guess it would be a personal preference what type or razor you like to use here. Number 3 the 2nd 47 variant. It is close but no cigar. Number 4 is 40/41 Regent Tech/Aristocrat, easy shave but clearly removes the least amount of overall hair for me.
Also as a recap here are the 3 handle styles Left is the 40/41 Regent Tech/Aristocrat, 46 - 47 common variant Aristocrat, 47 only 1st and 2nd variants Middle is 47/48 - 53 common variant Aristocrat and when rhodium plated 53 President Right is the 53 - ?? Diplomat and when rhodium plated 53 - ?? President Aggressiveness of the razor neatly corresponds to each handle earliest being the least and latest being the most when compared against each other.
Here is an ad from August 47 showing the old style center bar for the Aristocrats. If they had switched over to the new notched center bars for easier blade loading without handling it would have been in the ad and being touted as a great new innovation to sell the razor. So if nothing else we know the change if it happened in 47 would have happened sometime afterwards.
Knowing for sure they didn't transition from the no notch to notched version for the US Aristocrats in 48 as per here. https://theshaveden.com/forums/thre...fo-you-probably-dont-need-to-know.8468/page-5 I know for sure when they transitioned the Aristocrat handle from the original style to the second style. It happened in 1948 for sure. Material is copyrighted so I need to link through google books. Life Magazine Sept. 20th 1948 pg 94 https://books.google.com/books?id=_...HZU0DCIQ6AEILDAB#v=onepage&q=gillette&f=false Notch the earlier ad in the June 1948 issue in the other thread has the older handle style for the Aristocrat and the this ad in the September 1948 issue has the newer handle style. Both these ads are also with the newer no notched center bar. That settles that.
Here is a revised timeline of the US Aristocrat razors from 46 - 51. Unless someone can find an example I doubt they made any Aristocrats in the US in 52 due to the brass shortage from the Korean War and it looks like they discontinued the Aristocrat and replaced it with the Diplomat starting in 53. 1st picture Left - 46 - 47/48 (first handle style, curved safety bar, no notch center bar) Right - 47/48 - 48 (first handle style, creased safety bar, no notch center bar) 2nd picture Left - 47/48 - 48 (first handle style, creased safety bar, no notch center bar) Right - 48 (first handle style creased safety bar, notched center bar) 3rd picture Left - 48 (first handle style creased safety bar, notched center bar) Right - 48 - 51 (second handle style, creased safety bar, notched center bar). Here are the 4 side by side in order of when they were made.
The bellow answer is the correct one. In addition I would like to say that the 2nd gen razor came in #21 set as well. Gillette were introducing new type of cases i.e. new set # while maintaining the available razor inventory. Hence the 2nd gen razor was available in #15, #16, #21 and #22 set
Looks like it could be one that made it out not fully assembled if that is the case. Leaving out the end caps that crease along with the lacking of notches makes it an early 48. I doubt they all of a sudden decided to stop putting end caps on the razors for a production run unless they were short parts for example and someone said screw it and let a few pieces out anyways to fullfill orders or something to that effect.
or someone installed a clean early door/centerpost assembly onto a later handle/basaeplate assembly..
Yes, could be possible but what also dates the rest of it to 48 is the handle has smooth rings with no knurling on the the upper and lower parts. The order in which the 3 major manufacturing revisions on Artistocrats were done in 48 is the creased guard, notched center bar and lastly the handle knurling changed from upper and lower smooth rings to the knurled upper ring while the the lower ring remained smooth. That version is regardless of all that is a genuinely rare Aristocrat variant that was produced for about a 2 - 3 month period early 48. Rare doesn't always equal collectable though.
I tend to think it skipped QC as it has a nickel screw, a very small dab of solder on one side between the wings holding the door and while the T bar is gold over brass the rest is gold over nickel.
Reviving an old thread here... I've seen over and over people claiming the #15 was solid guard or OC and I'm here to say NO. The 15 is closed comb only, the solid guard is a 20 or 21 set. There was an ad showing a #15 with a solid guard...in the description of the razor however it says *No20 illustrated.
People are wrong - #15 is not related to the razor, but the case it comes in. It is solely the case that determines the # of the set and NOT the razor. There are three different versions of the Aristocrat #15 - they all come with the same case but 3 different aristocrat razors: one OC and two SB. There are a total of four generations British Aristocrat razors as shown (Courtesy of Mr-Razor): Here is the breakdown how they were sold originally (Courtesy of Porter): 1st gen razor - in #14, #15, #19, #20 2nd gen razor - in #15, #20, #21 3rd gen razor - in #15, #16, #20, #22 4th gen razor - in #22, #66, #70
i noticed the 3rd gen has the most possibles.The 3rd gen #15 i got from you way back when has a matching example on Mr. Raser's website.Below.
