I have recently seen several auctions on eBay for Art of Shaving travel brushes, selling for $16 in Buy It Now. They are sold by someone listed as being in Illinois. Seems like that price is pretty hard to believe, regardless of whether you like AoS products. I am making an educated guess that these may be counterfeits. Anyone else notice these? Thoughts?
Cheap knock-offs of the average-at-best, but highly priced AoS brushes. I'd take the $16 & get an Omega....
Pretty much what I surmised. Waiting for my BestShave order of a #1 and a #6 to come in... And a swap I did off the books for a Vie-Long. But figured I'd ask. Couldn't find a reference anywhere in my searching here in the forum, so I thought at the very least it might be a reference for someone else in the future.
or worse the Gamble kids might not get their Bentley but would have to settle for a Mercedes this Christmas.
As long as they don't have to give up the lease on the jet, they would get through it, but yes, it would be sad.
I was doing a search for brushes on the internet and was curious about this Chinese site for manufacturers to display their wares. Alibaba... Look at this offer and try to convince me how in the world could it possibly be real! They are offering to be to provide a distributer 200 million brushes per month! There aren't enough badgers in China or the whole world to be able to supply that. Must be fake badger fur. I am looking for a nice brush, though. I'll look through the other Brush forum threads to get some ideas on what would be nice. A vintage one would be kind of cool, even if it would have to be re-knotted.
It is possible to get a good deal on Alibaba. Usually, they are looking for a large minimum order on Alibaba, so that is why they created AliExpress. A little over a year ago, I received 4 mountain badger knots. My landed cost was $9 per knot! However, I had to wait a month before they shipped it and then another month for it to arrive. They clearly stated this was the timing on the front end, so I call that a good transaction because it follwed the NUMBER 1 rule of business: say what you do and do what you say. The way it works is they slot you as a low priority order. They are trying to get something out of their otherwise unused capacity. As I (dimly) recall, economists advise you to keep producing units until your marginal cost equals your marginal revenue. I think they fill all of their "real" orders and, at the end of the month, gather the leftovers to fill the tiny oddballs they collect off of Alibaba. So your next question surely is "How did they perform?" Sadly, the poor performance has been MINE, because I have not yet put them into a handle! I am saving them for a "special" handle. I carved an "acceptable" handle, but it just doesn't thrill me. I have one in progress and remain hopeful. I even have a vintage handle prime for a re-knot, but haven't motivated myself to get 'er done! <SIGH> Now that I've admitted my shame in public, I might actually do something with those knots! I am a little disgusted with my lack of performance! AND... I really want to try one now! At any rate, rather like the bay, caveat emptor! You rolls your dice and takes your chances. Good luck!
I have their knots in 2 of my favorite brushes. I think they're great. Considering the price, they're spectacular. I've had mine for almost a year and can't recall losing so much as a hair out of them. Great backbone, yet very soft tips.
