Anybody know how much an F2 Fatboy is worth these days?

Anybody got a good idea what a good condition F2 fatboy is worth today? I just picked up one and want to sell it on the bay, but I have no idea of current market value. I checked sold listings, the few they had sold recently had a wide spread. Anything from about 20 to 100 Whats the fair market value today? I used to get 50 to 160 depending on conditon and whether or not I had the original package and it's condition. This one has no package at all, just the razor. I want to get what's fair, and not undersell it, nor do I want to ask too much and never sell it. Please mr. moderator, this is NOT an offer to sell it to anyone here, I just want their advice on what to price it.

 

@tootall1121a - There's no easy answer. For the end user it's a value judgement and they'll occasionally succumb to Auction Frenzy. Otherwise it's just what the market will bear. After you get your post count up over 50 you might list it in the buy / sell / trade. Still have to post a value for the item to let folks know what you want for it.

I've picked up a dozen or more adjustable Gillettes, a majority being Fat Boys and flipped them. Not sold for cash in a buy low / sell high deal. More just keeping them in the TSD community and in the hands of Users. If I get one for twelve dollars it's worth trading for a slightly used tub of hard puck tallow soap, a mid-level brush, etc.

 

Thanks for your reply. I have to go get it out of the dip and finish cleaning it up now. I guess auction is the way to go, but I will not start it dirt cheap like Ebay always suggests. I paid less than 12 for it this time around, but the guy had an old three piece he thought was made of gold... not literally, but his price was that high

 

To answer your question without answering your question. Go check the completed auctions on ebay and that will tell you what you need to know.

 

actually, that's what I tried straight off. However, the prices of what they've sold recently are weirdly disparate one sold for like 12, another for 23, but a couple in the 50 dollar range and a couple in the 100+ range.

 

When the Fat Boy bug bit me, the first I saw in the wild was priced at $45. Thought to myself - ebay pricing. Next day I found one for four dollars. It's an E-4, last quarter of 1959. Had a Birth Year & Quarter FB, but that first one I found shaves better. Every other Adjustable Gillette I've found since I've compared to it. Only one was it's match, another E-4. That must have been a good crew building them right then.

 

They make good fishing weights.

I think a lot of people have figured out there really is nothing special about a fat boy shave. Not saying some donot still go for stoopid prices at times though. I have not seen to many with out a case go for a lot lately.

 

I have a fat boy in my collection but it doesn't see much use

 

Funny thing, I've bought more razors since I stopped shaving than when I did. My preference when I did shave was a ... slim adjustable I think it was.. a long chrome or nickel plated thin handle... at the time I didn't actually pay much attention to models and dates, I just liked it because it did a good job without ripping my face off. I was in the Navy in the early 80's, the boot issue razor was a three piece Gillette, silver toned, with no date code. I sure didn't like those. No telling how old it actually was, they probably bought a huge amount and kept giving them out for decades, definitely old tech, that was the first 3 piece I actually ever saw, until then I thought all Gillette's were TTO. Now because of my little sideline ebay biz, I have bought and sold probably a couple hundred razors, mostly Gillette but also some Auto Strop, even managed to sell some Gem and Gem style single edge razors, mostly because they came in a kit, the rest of the kit being worth more than the actual razor. Can't hardly sell a Gem if it doesn't have the kit. I even ran across a hand crank little machine for resharpening blades. It was really neat, it would go a ways then flip over as you cranked to stroup the other side. To do both edges tho, you had to turn the blade around in the machine. Would bring an old blade back to new or better sharpness fast. Now I only buy the occasional Gillette, for a while even they were not selling well, then suddenly they picked up again. Lots of guys actually like the older brass ones, I don't know if they use them or display them, I generally polish mine to a high shine before offering them, when they will polish up that is, sometimes they just won't, due to plating loss or such. That's why I passed on the brass or whatever the three piece was today, while most of it was gold tone, there was a silver part on the top... whether it had been plated to a silver tone and lost most of it, or was plated to a gold tone and lost some of it I didn't bother to determine, once I heard the price the guy wanted for it, it was ridiculous, but oddly he sold me the Fatboy relatively cheap It came out of the bath and polish gorgeous by the way. When I find them at estate sales, I like to see soap scum on them. This does two things, the scum actually protects the metal, and if they're scummy looking the price is usually cheap. Only draw back, I won't be able to read date codes until it's cleaned up. Sometimes I can't even be certain it's Gillette and not a knock off..

 

As has been said, prices for these razors are all over the place with some sellers thinking they are as rare as hen's teeth. Of course, Gillette made millions of them over their 3 1/2 year production lifespan with only the very last iteration (H1) having any rarity.

They are now a very popular vintage razor and I can (just) understand prices of over $100 for truly mint, unused and still in original packaging with sealed blade pack, warranty card and instruction sheet, examples.

Obviously the extras: case, blade pack leaflet, add value too and I think the earlier first model ones (1958 D3 through 1960 F2) are a little more desirable than the three later variants. I think I paid $45 for my D4 model in very good condition with its case and blade pack a couple of years ago. Mine has no scratches, no plating loss and no obvious signs of wear and it polished up very nicely. The case has some scuff marks but overall is pretty good. I have no need of another Fat Boy but personally I wouldn't pay over $20 for an uncased one.

 

Well I listed it at 27.63 auction style. I just tried to average it out. That is not what they used to bring, that's for sure. A cased one like shown above brought me 160 something several years ago, but now might do 50 on a very good day, probably somewhat less on an average day. I have other old Gillettes I can't get a bid on no matter where I start em. The market has sure dropped.

 

I think the market dropping on vintage Gillettes is a good thing; they were getting way overpriced.

I mean I know that Gillette was making its money on blades and not razors, but in 1958 Fatboys sold new for $1.95 which is about $18 inflation adjusted for today.

Good luck with your auction.

 

Yes, that sounds about right, but today you can't just go to the store and buy one new.

 

i lot of people have wisened up over whats rare and not..and tired of the gouging some sellers do for crap..

 

actually, that's why I posed the question. I don't want to gouge anyone, but do want fair market value. It's difficult to keep up with what every kind of item is doing. I usually check sold comps, but when they're all over the place, that doesn't help. For a while, I didn't have wheels so I would find underpriced items on the bay, buy them then resell at market value. Made enough to get a cheap used car... not enough for all the needed repairs, but to buy the car at least. One guy had a vintage lighter, I tried to tell him it was worth like 50 bucks, he had it at five. He basically told me to go to a warm place and didn't mean Florida. So I bought his 5 dollar lighter, and resold it almost immediately after posting it for 45. I didn't give him a smell of it. Same token, another lady sold me what we both thought was a very oxidized brass ashtray. Well to make a long story short, when I cleaned it up and deciphered the hallmarks, it turned out to be 800 Dutch repose silver, made in 1881. So I resold it for great money, but I split the profits with the original seller, since that was the right thing to do and she wasn't trying to mess with me. I fully believe in treating people the way they treat me.

 

Yup. If I had to pick between a Red Tip or a common '40s Super Speed, that might be a tough choice but for me either would come in ahead of the FB.

 

As has been stated, the razor market fluctuates so often and so unpredictably that it's impossible to say what the going price of ANY razor (barring the ultra-rare ones that are guaranteed chunks of change). And that's before one takes condition into consideration, or who may or may not actually be in the market for one at a given moment. A user grade Fatboy, say, may have sold for $80 last week, while one in identical condition might only go for $40 tomorrow. Or vice versa. You just can't know.

So in short, the best you can hope for is a range of prices that'll probably still be too broad to infallibly give you a hard starting price. In the ballpark is the best you can hope for.

But one thing is for sure...Fatboy hype waxes and wanes but mysteriously refuses to die. So what I would do is, ride the hype. Start a FB at $9.99 and the price is sure to go up.

 

Agreed, so what SHOULD happen is, the market finally burns out and people who aren't hard core wetshavers will pretty much give up on razor speculation and flipping. That SHOULD result in a last gasp feeding frenzy of deals to be had, and (maybe) a last burst of gouging. Then, when pretty much all that's left is guys like us, the market SHOULD finally stabilize at "reasonable" levels, whatever those are...but the tradeoff will be fewer available razors just because way fewer people will be selling.

How long that process takes, I dunno. A year or two?

 

probably, but some people like the way they fit their hands. My big meaty hands like something a bit larger to hold onto. um ooops okay no wise cracks about that.

 

I also have big hands and much prefer the heft of a Fat Boy although I also have a very nice Red Tip and several regular Flare Tips. I have a few 40's/50's Super Speeds too and while I love the simple yet elegant design of them, I find them just a bit too petite.

But hey, it's a good job we don't all like te same things!

I'm not really a collector and eBay speculators, flippers, gougers, etc. just bore the hell out of me. Life's too short and I have better things to do.