I've recently acquired an Aero razor with silverish colored biplane bolsters, manufactured in Germany and stamped with the name of a distributor, in this case Phillips Medical Co Omaha NE. Doing a bit of research, while I could not find this exact razor online, but I did find others that use the same bolsters. Two of these are listed as part of the King collection of the Smithsonian Institution Air and Space Museum. Lucky Lindy, stamped with Kalamazoo Pharmacal Co. http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A20040292018 Spirit of St. Louis, stamped with Voight Company Inc, http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A20040292019 Lindbergh, stamped with C. R. Akers Co. Indianapolis, Ind. Made in Germany, image hosted by an auction company(Google Lindbergh Straight Razor) I also found a completed, Lucky Lindy listing with deleted photos, on Ebay France stamped with M.SCHNEIDER PHILA,PA. MADE IN GERMANY There is also another Kalamazoo Lucky Lindy listed on Worthpoint. http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/lucky-lindy-straight-razor-139105866 The blades on all of the these examples are identical, 5/8 with a X pattern border on the tang behind the scales. The bolsters are all brass with brass pins. Most appear to have a blued or blackened tang and tail. There is a pic of a Double Duck blade on SRP that has Lucky Lindy and these bolsters as well, I believe that to be a rescale since it has nickel pins on brass bolsters. I obviously cannot prove that however. One last thing to note is that the original design and use of these bolsters would more than likely predate Lindbergh's Trans-Atlantic. They are clearly biplanes, whereas the Spirit of St. Louis was a monoplane. I often been curious about what German companies manufactured rebranded razors made for the U. S. market. I'd like to raise the possibility that all of these razors may have been manufactured by F.W. Engels. Many Engels models have the fancy bolsters such as Trademark, Leader and the Special, so it is clearly a design element they used. While not the only company to use ornate bolsters, they do have some of the most detailed. The shape, width, border and dark tangs of the blades on the Aero, Lindbergh, Lucky Lindy and Spirit of St. Louis razors are for all practical purposes identical with the blades used on the F.W.E. Special and the Trademark. Engels example pics in next post.
One last bit of flimsy, circumstantial, evidence to support my theory is that... my Aero came in a F.W. Engels Special box. Coincidental pairing or did Phillips Medical Co. of Omaha NE fall down in not ordering a custom box for their Aero Razor?
The 4 big ones for Imports from Solingen to the Hardware stores were FWE ERN Kholler Boker There were others but those are the most likely.. The real question is if AERO was an FWE name.. Will check the books I have when I get a minute