Japanese rocket...Maybe

Discussion in 'Safety Razors' started by Ratpoison, Sep 28, 2021.

  1. Ratpoison

    Ratpoison Well-Known Member

    Alright everybody let's get started. I got this razor from the bay several years ago at an early point in my collecting. At the time I thought it was a Feather razor. But now I'm not so sure, I have found pictures of Japanese razors but none that look like this. The only writing on the bottom is the word Japan no other markings are present. Any ideas? Please excuse the picture quality I have a hand tremor and old iPhone. IMG_1.jpg IMG_2.jpg IMG_3.jpg IMG_4.jpg IMG_5.jpg
     
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  2. Aztecmike

    Aztecmike George

    I have a nearly identical razor to yours. The only difference I can see is mine has "JAPAN" stamped on the right side of the baseplate. I also purchased it thinking it might be a Feather razor. It took a while but I found pictures of a Feather razor that seems identical other than the baseplate markings. Both have 16 knurled sections on the main handle & 5 knurled sections on the TTO knob.

    The first photos are my razor...
    pixlr_20210928171315865.jpg

    The second set of photos are of a Feather razor I found online which seems to be the same. At the very least our razors seem to be a Feather clone. :)
    pixlr_20210928170438221.jpg
     
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  3. Ratpoison

    Ratpoison Well-Known Member

    Sweet! I have never seen another one before. I have always been curious as to a year. Definitely a rarity.
     
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  4. gorgo2

    gorgo2 geezerhood

    Always something new here. :)
     
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  5. Aztecmike

    Aztecmike George

    Actually now that I look closer, the center bar mechanism on mine is solid vs. the folded 2-piece center bar mechanism on the Feather razor. Huh...never picked up on that before.
     
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  6. jmudrick

    jmudrick Type A Man

    Cross razor would also be similar to the Feather.[​IMG]

    Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
     
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  7. Jayaruh

    Jayaruh The Cackalacky House Pet

    Supporting Vendor
  8. BBS

    BBS Well-Known Member

    Rule of thumb with Gillette razors not including rebrands, they will say Gillette on them somewhere. If they don't, then they aren't a Gillette razor. As far as British Gillette razors sold in Japan, they were marked differently from ones sold in Anglo markets like England, Canada and Australia for example. The ones sold in Japan don't have any Made In England or any British Patent numbers marked on them while ones sold in Anglo markets do.
     
    brit likes this.
  9. BBS

    BBS Well-Known Member

    Besides a Feather razor being ruled out you can also rule it out being a Mark Cross since they say Cross Mark on the underside of the baseplate for this style razor and this one only says Japan in it's place. Same with a Super Doll since those say Super Doll on underside of the baseplate.

    There are more brands that copied this design in Japan but I don't know enough about them to say which it could be.
     
    brit likes this.
  10. BBS

    BBS Well-Known Member

    As an fyi here is what the markings will look like normally on a British made Gillette sold in Japan.

    This is a 60s era British flare tip 1pc razor.
    jg1.jpg jg2.jpg jg3.jpg

    Notice the logo lettering is different from what you normally see. A similar style logo was used in other foreign markets like India,
     
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  11. Ratpoison

    Ratpoison Well-Known Member

    Definitely interesting. Thanks for the info.
     
    brit likes this.

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