Razor collecting has been good to me. Wait, buy the best, hold and you will be rewarded. Plus you get to enjoy the razors in the mean time. I have specialized in the rare Gillette adjustable razors. Other types haven’t really appreciated. Don’t know what the future will bring though.
IMO, not worth it at all. I can think of a lot better things to do with $5000.00. Not to mention, they don't shave that well. What did W.C. Fields say?
6 years ago you would have said the same thing but the number would have been $2500. You will be saying the same thing 6 years from now and the number will be $10,000. I’m just saying.
I’ve got the buying and holding (hoarding) part down ... not so good with the idea of letting go of anything special.
True, but does anybody know of anyone who has retired on a razor collection? My opinion, spending $500 to hope for $700 back, especially on a razor, ...well. It's your money. Enjoy it your way.
I've been buying, using and selling razors for eight years ..... and I can honestly say ................ No way in blue blazes would I spend even a 20th of that ($250) on a razor. I'm old fashion and I look at it for what it is and does. It's a 3 1/2" chunk of metal that removes hair. I know we all have different spending limits, but there is such a thing as lunacy. Ok I'm done ranting (mostly) ..... I just tire of the falderal and hullabaloo. It's like buying a 1975 Pacer for 20 million dollars.
Speaking of cars, of course people collect those too. Not me. Cars are just transportation. But I understand that people collect them and it drives up the prices. I had a 1969 Volkswagen Bug I bought for $1000. I also had a 1973 Camaro I bought for $3000. Prices these days?
I have to say for myself that I have not yet looked at comparable investments when buying (even very expensive) razors. Because then I could not be in to this. I buy high grade vintages solely based on the emotional returns I get of owning and shaving with them and looking at them. Recently I have sold a few rare Gillette razors with amazing return but mostly I am losing money every time I sell something. When you take the acquisition price and add shipping across the world as well as not least customs fees here I ALWAYS come out on the wrong side. But I don’t care, actually. My razors are for me, and when/if I do sell I consider that I had to pay ‘rent’ for the time I owned them Things right now are utterly crazy with free money flowing around, but as far as I have seen only the market for the rarest Gillette adjustables (that a sufficient number of people still know of) are this high. In general, if it is not a Gillette it (still) won’t go high. But again, maybe it’s time to sell my Le Supreme, haha (nah, just kidding). Actually, what also amazes me is the fact that nowadays there seems to be more people continuously scanning the bays. It seems that in the old days more stuff flew under the radar.
Some razors there is just no No on the retire thing but when looking to park money longer term, certain razors can be a good hedge against inflation as part of a bigger diversification strategy. Me personally I try to buy in such as a way I can at least break even if I sell a razor off later. When I can't I try to cost average over multiple razors to stay net ahead of what I've spent on my collection. As long as the house and hobby money don't co-mingle I buy and sell based on where I am net.
..And to put recent price developments into perspective: Only a few weeks ago I won this ultrarare Aristocrat #14 set in amazing condition for a mere 130 GBP. There were a lot of onlookers and still this amazingly low price. Now, I now that the true collectors also want the shipper and paperwork to feel complete, but still... And it is not like British Aristocrats are not in increasing demand these days... So no, I would not buy high grade vintage razors with the investment angle in mind...
The case is rare not the razor. To put it in perspective they produced the 1st gen British Aristocrats 36 - 39 and 46 - 47, that is 6 production years not including if they made any during WWII from 40 - 45, the US open comb Aristocrat TTO was 34 - 40, that is 6 year run also. You would want less common and desirable razors in the British realm, those being Popular razors or the hybrid tech razors. Those as long as you are not paying premiums I would say can be good investments.
The interesting thing here is that Gen 2 Aristocrats were only produced from 1947-49, but they are pretty numerous. While the Gen 1 Aristocrat Jr., also produced during the same years, is rarely seen. I'd even go as far as the Hybrid Tech is more common than the Gen 1 Jr. Adam
Apparently there’s more to this story. HDSledge over at B&B says he messaged the seller of this bottom dial on eBay and the seller said he “found it” in a trunk in an “abandoned” house in Jacksonville FL. So much for provenance. I kind of feel bad for the buyer now. All that money and a shakey ownership chain. Pawn shops ask you how you obtained stuff when you go to sell it. If you say you “found it” it doesn’t usually go over too well!!
$1000 for a Gillette Toggle D1 set? Wow! I’m very lucky that I bought mine for $350 last year then. It came with case and blade dispenser.
To clarify asking for $1000, not selling on the Toggle sets. My guess is someone managed to sell one at an exhorbant price to one of the more money than sense types then everyone comes out of the woodworks asking that price only to find out that is not the actual market price range but an outlier. Everyone else who knows or sort of knows Gillette razors knows better than to pay that type of money when you can get a Red Dot Fatboy for less than that. Point is you should see a sustained across the board shift in prices if that is the actual market which it isn't. If it was Toggles without cases should be going a lot higher than the $300 range right now. Regardless of what the hype is they made a lot of Toggles, if you include the serial Toggles they actually produced them for more production years than the Fat Boy razors.
