I shaved in the 1970's with a Gillette SuperSpeed DE razor and Williams Shave Soap. I changed over to electric shaving when my Father In law bought me a Norelco shaver. A couple of years ago I went back to DE shaving and recently went thru some of my old shaving stuff and found a old Williams Shave Soap puck from the early 70's. I just received today a new puck of Williams Shave Soap I ordered and was surprised to see it is white. The Williams Shave Soap from the 70's is a darker brown/gold color. So I looked at photos of vintage Williams Shave Soap on this forum and YouTube and they are all white just like the new Williams Shave Soap I just bought. Now I'm only 90% sure this old soap puck is Williams Shave Soap. I know Williams changed their formula. So is this old puck Williams Shave Soap? Did Williams make more than one kind of shave soap in the 70's? Or maybe this puck is older than other Vintage Williams Shave Soaps?
I have 1976 Williams and they are White, although they do show age. Maybe your's aged differently depending on where/how it was stored...
Yep all of the Williams I have used are white. VDH had some pucks that were that color, maybe a glycerin based vdh puck. That definitely looks to be glycerin based.
I'm not sure how long vdh was around but in the late 80s all you could find was williams colgate and vdh, during the holidays maybe old spice.
I could not smell much scent so I asked my wife and she said "It smells like soap". I highly doubt it is Col Cronk. The first I have heard of Col Cronk is maybe a month ago on this forum. I also first read about VDH a year or two ago on this forum and bought a puck and used it until last week. I remember, I was surprised VDH was white. Probably the first time I've ever seen a white puck. Plus fifty years ago I would have thought that VDH was too high faloutoon. It may be possible it is Colgate or Old Spice but I did not know these made shaving soap until recently, once again on this forum. But that was almost fifty years ago. I do remember Williams Shave Soap vividly. I had this puck inside a Williams Shave Soap box for years until a couple years ago when I took it out of the box and put it in a cup. I shaved with it a week or two to begin DE shaving again. It took a lot to get "that old puck" to lather so I bought VDH. I recently learned of "Blooming", watching some YouTube videos, and have never tried blooming "that old puck". I will my next shave. To see if I can get more lather out of it. Once again I was sure the old puck was Williams until I opened the new box of Williams and was surprised it was white. It is possible "That Old Puck" was something I bought fifty years ago and did not like and put it in a Williams box. If so it would have had to be very cheap. I was counting pennies back then.
I think it is an old Surrey brand glycerin puck. Surrey sold soaps, cheap bristle brushes, and mugs. They were inexpensive, and nearly as ubiquitous as Williams in US shops into the 80s. Surrey soaps and brushes are today sold as Van Der Hagen. Even their hard, tallow soap was more of a peach tone than white like Williams, so perhaps that is what you have. But either way, I'd guess it is Surrey.
Surrey is a possibility. I can definitely say I never saw or heard of Col Cronk or Colgate but Surrey is possible especially if it was cheap. I just wish I could see a vintage Surrey box. Maybe it would ring a bell.
I pressed "This old Puck" into a glass bowl and used it today. In the past I had the puck in a mug and tried to build up a lather right on the puck. I was disappointed with the amount and quality of lather produced. Today I bloomed it with a small amount of hot water for 3-6 minutes. Used the bloom water to dampen my face and head. Then loaded a synthetic brush into a mixing bowl and produced a surprisingly large amount of lather that was very protective of my skin. I know there is a group that believe in blooming and another camp that do not. Put me in the bloomer group.
Jacobite, Thanks for this more likely pic of a box of Surrey soap. After seeing this box I'm sure that I have not seen or bought Surrey.