A quick one this morning. I'm going to be at an estate sale later on today in which there is a small amount of shaving paraphernalia being advertised. Among those things are, I think, 4 vintage straight razors. Brand and condition are unknown since the advertisement only has pictures of the boxes with the razors, presumedly, in them. I plan on bidding on them, but have no idea at all of the price range that "should" be expected in a setting like this. If anyone is so kind as to suggest something along these lines, it would be appreciated. Thanks
I've never seen auctions at estate sales. Like others have said, grab the razors, then look up the past sales prices on ebay. That is, if their conditions are good .
It must be a thing of different areas do things differently. An estate sale here is almost always an auction. Frequently held on the premises of the domicile of the person whose estate is being sold. In those cases, it'll usually be held outside where people can bring lawn chairs to sit in. The auctioneer will usually have made arrangements to have food available as well as "port-a-johns." In today's case, this particular auctioneer has an indoor facility with upholstered seats, restrooms, food, sodas, and water. He will sell pieces from several estates. Today he had something like 6 estates he was selling. Has workers bringing items up on the block from both sides so there's always something coming up. It's fast-paced and you have to pay close attention.
For what it's worth, I passed on all of the straight razors today. There were 5 of them, but mostly in less than stellar condition. There was excessive pitting on some. One had a chunk broken out of the blade about an inch or so from the end of the blade with others having several very noticeable nicks present. I'm no SR knowledgable person, but I've dealt with enough other items to know those were a "no go." On the other hand, I did manage to score 3 shaving mugs. 1 each of 2 different configurations of "Old Spice" mugs, and one solid white one with no name readily noticeable, but this one did have raised ribs on the bottom of the inside to help hold a puck. Plus 2 brushes and an empty saccharin bottle. 1 piece of very nice condition Hull pottery and a 102-103-year-old key wound mantle clock. So, all in all, not a bad day. I'll post some pictures in "The Haul" thread as soon as I can.
Just as a point of reference, I did a search of "completed sales" for straight razors and to be honest, the ones sold at the auction today didn't look anywhere near as nice as those in the completed sales on eBay. There were 5 SRs in one lot today and the whole lot sold for something like $25-$30. Hey, there's always other auctions.
