Has anyone ever seen a Shumate single edge safety razor before? I saw one in a antique store and when I slid the head off it had a Shumate single edge blade in it. The blade appeared to be a bit more narrow than a DE blade. Is this razor worth anything? It also had the case it came in. I also ran across 2 Gillette Tech travel razors. Are those fairly rare?
I have seen Shumate straights but not a safety razor. If it were my money, I would grab it just because of the name. Travel Techs are pretty common though.
I think I will go buy it today since it seems to be a unique item. I will post some pics tonight and let everyone see what it looks like.
Never heard of it until this thread, but Waits Compendium shows a couple of photos of the single edge safety, and a drawing of the straight. The dates aren't stated very clearly, but it seems to have been between 1902 and 1906 that they started making them, not clear how long they lasted. Certainly seems like a unique item. If you can modify a modern blade to make it shaveworthy, that would be a bonus.
Here are a few pictures. The pictures are not high quality because they are taken on my phone. let me know what you all think of the razor. The last picture shows the blade seperated from the razor. Even the blade has the Shumate name etched on it. The blade could probably be sharpened by someone that knows what they are doing. let me know what you all think of it.
Any other writing below the Shumate? SHUMATE RAZOR CO Austin, TX until 1904, then St. Louis, Missouri ca. 1900 - 1920 SHUMATE CUTLERY CO St. Louis, Missouri ca. 1920 - 1932 The cutlery company may have jobbed it out.
From Krumholz's "Collectors Guide to American Razor Blades" "Shumate added barber supplies in 1908. Several domestic razor companies were contracted. It is believed to produce straight razors which was their primary item of production. However, Shumate did dabble a bit in safety razors and blades. A subsidiary blade firm was Shuraco Blade Company. Suraco stood for Shumate Blade Co. (or Corp.)." The last listing for Shumate was in 1946.
Thanks everyone. That narrows it down quite a bit on the age of this razor. On the inside of the box it is printed with SHUMATE RAZOR CO. St. Louis. So if they added razors like this in 1908 then the date is narrowed to between 1908-1920. In addition it has a patent # on the lower end of the handle. PAT. 10-24-11 The blade has Shumate RAZOR CO-ST.LOUIS etched on it so I am not sure it the blade was manufactured for Shumate or not.
It does sound kind of rare doesn't it. I have looked all over the net and I haven't seen another one like it yet. It would indeed be interesting to find what it's worth on the collectors market.
