1912 King C Gillette C117599 Razor Kit

This the the Cavalier set that just went on eBay. It might have been completely machine made. And it doesn’t appear to have been monogrammed. I don’t know? Says it’s from the 1920s. The tech might have changed.

 

The detail on that set is insane. Very nice.

 

Guess what I got in the mail today?! A for real copy of the 12-07-1912 Saturday Evening Post. This is a blow up of the brush portion of the Gillette advertisement on page 41. Clearly... "BRISTLES SET IN RUBBER" and the diamond logo definitely appears to say something before and after "Gillette" got to be TRADE and MARK.

 

A page from a 1912 hardware catalog. In my quest to find the correct brush that went with the 1912 “gold combination set” or de Luxe combination set, it appears from this catalog page they were pairing the Rubberset Model 102... good quality badger hair with the 00 Combination Set. (Did they pair the same Model 102 with both the 00 Combination set and the de Luxe Combo Set?????) Not the Model 103 fine quality badger and bristle brush. I currently believe the brush might also have said “sterilized” on the reverse side of the brush opposite the Gillette diamond logo. We already know it said “bristles set in rubber” below the logo and no Rubberset trade mark stamped into the base.

 

The brush descriptions from the 1909 Gillette Catalog

 

A 1911 00 Combination Set. Brush says "STERILIZED" on reverse side of logo? But this maybe a mismatch set. Who knows!? The brush in this picture may not even be a Model 102 Rubberset. Doesn't much look like it.

 

This is a razor engraved by FC Blank that was on display at the Gillette New York City showroom in 1918. I got this photo and info out of “The Gillette Blade” December 1918 edition a newsletter put out by Gillette. It is creating a furor as this razor won the grand prize for engraving at the 1915 Worlds Fair in San Francisco.

 

FC Blank’s obituary in the New York Times. Mentioned him winning the prize for engraving.

 

Brushes that have the "Sterilized" stamp are most likely post-anthrax scare, 1919+

 

So it turns out FC Blank also engraved a razor for Charles M Schwab in 1918. Schwab owned Bethlehem Steel which invented the steel beam required for construction of sky scrappers. King Camp Gillette gave a combination razor set engraved by FC Blank to Charles M Schwab resulting in a thank you letter.









Above is one of Charles M Schwab's residences... a retreat in Loretto PA.



Time Magazine Cover. Charles M Schwab 1926

 

Great information! Helps me place a brush in time more easily. I'm sure you are aware, but the "Made in USA" stamps start to come in on the Rubberset brushes around 1913-1914 time frame due to dissatisfaction with German imports and the World War (another dating trick I learned recently).

 

Also, I wanted to see if I could figure out how many engravers Gillette had on the payroll. I was able to come up with a very good approximation! In 1918 there was a thing called a "Thrift Stamp". I believe they were sold by the US Government to help fund the war effort in World War I. Well it turns out Gillette Safety Razor Company was very into promoting this program/war effort. So much so that they published the participation rate by department in the Thrift Stamp program! As you can see, in the engraving department there were 2 pledges and a participation rate of 67%. Voila!!!!!! 2 divided by 66.6% is 3. I am deducing that in 1918 Gillette Safety Razor Company had 3 engravers on staff. While I am happy that I discovered the department size, I am a little disappointed that the department size was not larger. There was FC Blank in the department and two other engravers I believe. Could FC Blank's services be reserved to the best customers with the most complicated designs while the other two engravers did simple monograms which could be completed very quickly? Did FC Blank pitch in and do simple monograms too when the other two engravers were swamped? More questions to ponder (and research)!!!!

 

For those that want to really geek out, the Thrift Stamp participation chart can also be used to infer salaries by department! Please notice there were 3 engravers and they had a weekly allotment/assignment of 12 stamps. Also notice the shipping depart had an allotment of 18 but they had 15 people in their department. With a little math voodoo it can be seen that the average payroll of the shipping department was about 30% of the average engraver! In other words engraver's assignment 12/3 = 4 stamps per person. Shipping department assignment 18/15 = 1.2 stamps per person. The shipping department was assigned a lower quota because they were paid less on average. To finish the thought 1.2 stamps/shipper person divided by 4 stamps/engraver person equals 30% so in my estimation engravers were paid approximately 3.3 times what shipping clerks were paid! (Also the Thrift Stamps cost 25 cents each - $1.00 burden per week per engraver and 30 cent burden per week per shipper - [1.00/.30 = 3.3333]).

 

I had not read that anywhere, but it is really helpful. That tightens my window a bit with the little Gillette brushes.

 

How about a bit of perspective? Who would pay $500 for a razor and what could $500 buy you? Well here is an advertisement from Cadillac Motor Car Company. A Cadillac could be had for $2000! A Cadillac goes for around $50,000 and up today.

 

has the schwab razor set ever resurfaced sir?..just curious..

 

No! Of all the razors engraved by FC Blank for celebrities and prominent people, I only know of 3 in the hands of collectors today. One with me and I saw two others on Mr-Razor's website! And I'm not 100% on the Hermann Kohl razor. There is very little customization to the Kohl razor and there are not rubbings of it in the FC Blank's grandson's collection.

 

very cool ..thank you..

 

I misspoke! I found the Hermann Kohl razor in FC Blank's rubbings collection. It was definitely done by Blank. Just with very minimal effort.

 

very cool sir.. i love these sets..i would like to acquire a plain one at some point..would be interesting to know how many other of these unique sets have survived.. true masterpieces..