That's so much easier. You have your pick, flare tip superspeed in its second year of production, ball end tech, what are you looking for?
Today I wanted to learn how to post pictures here, then ran into this thread, so I'll try here. The red tip SS is a 1956, (my birth year), NOS... more on that in a moment. The other is a Rocket HD, year of manufacture unknown, (so I'm pretending it's from 1956 as well...) also NOS. I received the SS Heavy on Tuesday and the Rocket yesterday. Now... I have read threads on whether one should shave with a NOS razor or not. I am a new collector, and I also happen to shave. Having been a pipe collector for years, there is a similar controversy. (Do I smoke the new pipe made in 1940, or just look at it?) Which camp do I fall into? A careful observer will notice that each of these razors is loaded with a blade. I believe I am too old not to shave with these. How lucky am I to be the one to break in a classic razor, and I mean, do they get more classic than these two? So far I have only shaved once with the red tip. It was a very good experience. I'll report back on my overall impressions another time, in another thread. I'm gonna shave with the Rocket HD soon... maybe today. They are legendary, and I'm anxious to learn why.
Gillette must have made millions of travel razors during my birth year and quarter...April 1966. 4 out of 5 on ebay are L2s.
I considered collecting razors that I would display only. I'm 42 and decided I am too old not to enjoy these wonderful pieces of machinery. Regardless of condition, I intend to use and enjoy all of my razors.
More difficult. Gillette England didn't date code razors nearly as rigorously as the US production did. Gillette France did a better job on their production than England did at date coding.
I'd shave with those NOS razors without a second thought. They are more durable than you think, and with care and maintenance can stay looking like new for years. Remember, nobody thought we were gonna be into these things and a whole bunch are holding up really well.
I use NOS items. The one exception was a Milord NOS Christmas set. As far as I know, it is the only one for that year in existence, NOS or not. I traded it to a gentleman who had the previous year's set (also the only known edition in existence) and he later sold both to a collector.
My P1 Black Handle SuperSpeed. My birth year razor and quarter. One of my favorite razors especially paired with an Astra SP.
