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Thread for the brave: Share your vintage razor collection objectives

Walid

Walid

Well-Known Member
Hey Vintage shaving Collectors,

Have you defined what you're going to collect? There are 10s of thousands of razors out there. It doesn't make sense to try to collect them all. This would be too costly and frankly stupid.

Good things to think about are:
  • Why do you collect? (What is the purpose of the collection)
  • What categories you'd like to collect? (Single, double, triple edge, sets, soaps etc...)
  • Do you have levels of achievements you want to attain?
  • What would make a collection satisfying?
  • What is your end game? (are you selling it later one? or stop at a certain number)
  • Do you set budget limitations?
Let's get this thread going. Let's see how many of us are collectors here.
 
1-Purpose:

Learn and understand a part of human history related grooming. Investigate its evolution in all aspects in how it influenced behaviour, economy and culture.​

Collect historical razors, artifacts and documents related to shaving to see evolution in design, marketing and adaptation to environment. From Antiquity to just before the cartridge razor. With emphasis on the first razor on each category or collect-able brand.​
​
2-Guiding principles in order:

1. Historical significance​
2. Interesting engineering​
3. Justified rarity​
4. Diversification​
5. Aesthetics​
6. Quality over quantity​
7. No need to collect all variations​
8. No matter how much you want the item, it’s not worth stressing about it​
9. Take time off hunting to take care of the collection.​
10. Thin the herd from time to time.​
 
I'm a collector. Can't help it. I had shitloads of books, gave away close to 8 meters of science fiction. I still have 2000+ vinyl albums, after thinning the herd. Stopped with all that, focused on razors. First, straights, switched to safeties.
Guiding principles:
  1. Slant. My personal definition: torqued (like Merkur 37, PAA Monster slant series), tilted (iKon 102, PAA Alpha Ecliptic), curved (Ssseygus Zeppelin), balljoint (Peroni), circular (Collins).
    I seek all variations of all models here. Will prefer a crappy one over none, always look to upgrade, ie replace a crappy one with a less crappy one, replace one without shipper for one with shipper.
  2. Mvltiplex. No personal definition here, just the late 1920s 5-bladed razor, in all its varieties. By now I own eight, and know there's three more handle varieties. Also, in Northern Africa custom domes were made for these razors. I'd like to find at least one of those.
  3. Progress-type baseplates.
  4. Swedes.
  5. The dangerous category: stuff that interests me. This is where all limits are gone and I have to be careful to not just buy anything. I semi-succeed.
As pointed out under 1. slants, I upgrade my collection by replacing razors by better looking or more complete specimens.This is the only way I thin the herd: selling duplicates/surplus.
Buying: mainly ebay, where I bid late, bid once. I decide in advance how much, postage included, I wish to spend on a razor. I never overbid myself. When I miss it, no worries. Another one will come up. *
From time to time I do get stuff related to razors. I try to show these in my little attic where apart from me nobody who actually knows his classic shaving gear has ever been, except for one.

* I'm really, and I mean REALLY!!!11!1!|!!!!!~1|"!, pissed of at DHL for losing my slant that I'd never ever seen before and still do not know what brand it is.
 
efsk said:
www.ebay.nl

Vintage MULCUTO SOLINGEN Schrägschnitt Rasierhobel Einmalig Top zustand | eBay

Vintage MULCUTO SOLINGEN Schrägschnitt Rasierhobel Einmalig Top zustand | Sammeln & Seltenes, Haushalt & Küche, Kleingeräte | eBay!
www.ebay.nl
Click to expand...
Yes, that's the one I was talking about. Lost by DHL huh. I was thinking about bidding on it and then changed my mind. You know, after joining this forum, I had a feeling it was you who bought it. When someone is obsessed by slants like you, you wouldn't let it go. I know the feeling. It's a collector's feeling.
My condolences. But it will be available again. Not necessarily through eBay, but it will resurface.
 
DHL marked it as delivered but it never got here. No DHL delivery person was recorded by my video doorbell around the timeframe DHL claims it was delivered. It just did not get here. However, because DHL marked it as delivered, I do not get my money back,, as paypal and ebay see it was delivered, and DHL refuses to investigate as it was delivered. This really pisses me of.
 
Walid said:
@nongillette Would you like to share your collection objectives? It was a mistake by me and @efsk to talk about a specific razor here. People will digress and talk about a different subject that was not intended for this thread.
Click to expand...

Well, First of all, I don't think I'm a collector. Though I've purchased 300 kinds of razors for a decade, much more in sheer numbers, I tried to keep the number of razors below 30. I purchase a lot but I don't collect. and moreover, I purchase modern razors a lot as well. About 100 kinds of razors out of 300, half of them high end SS razors. I don't collect a single one of them because I just purchase modern razors out of curiosity coming from reading other's reviews. I use them a full week or less and sell them away.

So not from a heavy collector's view but from a heavy purchaser's view.

I purchase on the basis of these rules below.

1. some distinctive feature like design, engineering, historical significance or material. This is the main reason I don't collect single modern razor. Of course some modern razors like Cobra Classic, Paradigm SE, and Leaf Twig is collectable in this regard and they are pretty amazing shavers but I sold them to keep my focus on vintage razors.

2. Rarity - I dont' purchase razors solely based on rarity. I'm not interested in purchasing 3 piece razors with ordinary Gillette or Merkurish variations any more no matter how rare it is.

3. other's reviews. - I love to read other heavy collector's review, especially who seems to be more knowledgeable and experienced than me. so I've always tried to purchase and experience top collector's favorite razors.

4. cost - I never exceed my limit of $500 for a razor. and I dont' overbid. so I lose most of the bidding on the ebay and other auction sites.
 
nongillette said:
Well, First of all, I don't think I'm a collector. Though I've purchased 300 kinds of razors for a decade, much more in sheer numbers, I tried to keep the number of razors below 30. I purchase a lot but I don't collect. and moreover, I purchase modern razors a lot as well. About 100 kinds of razors out of 300, half of them high end SS razors. I don't collect a single one of them because I just purchase modern razors out of curiosity coming from reading other's reviews. I use them a full week or less and sell them away.
Click to expand...
This is a great contribution friend. A fresh new perspective of things, enlightening. I appreciated even more the fact that you took the time to describe in details your point of view.
OK, now, we understand better. As a vintage razor collector, I never exceeded 340$ USD for any razor. You as a non collector exceeded that. Very interesting.
You also purchased more Razors than me in your hobby. And you're not even a collector.
You are detached from the razors, you care only about experiencing its use since you resell after a few shaves (I am not gonna ask if you're married or not:cool:)
It seems that I care more about the razor than the way it shaves.

You just helped me understand myself better and connect a few missing links of why we do things the way we do them.

Spending money on Razors would probably be a good subject for a thread.

Thank you.
 
Walid said:
This is a great contribution friend. A fresh new perspective of things, enlightening. I appreciated even more the fact that you took the time to describe in details your point of view.
OK, now, we understand better. As a vintage razor collector, I never exceeded 340$ USD for any razor. You as a non collector exceeded that. Very interesting.
You also purchased more Razors than me in your hobby. And you're not even a collector.
You are detached from the razors, you care only about experiencing its use since you resell after a few shaves (I am not gonna ask if you're married or not:cool:)
It seems that I care more about the razor than the way it shaves.

You just helped me understand myself better and connect a few missing links of why we do things the way we do them.

Spending money on Razors would probably be a good subject for a thread.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

Yes. I think this kind of hobby is all about the experience. I've had this attitude long before I got interested in vintage razors.

It started when I collected vintage fountain pens which cost me arms and legs to maintain a decent vintage collection.

Of course, there are some favorite razors I won't sell or trade easily. It changes over time but I try to keep the number as small as 20 or something.
 
I, too, like your point of view @nongillette .
The experience to me is important. Or rather: was. Like I posted before, I own a lot of vinyl albums. Some of them are really rare, thanks to my somewhat eclectic taste in music I tend to get albums of which not many are made, however they always were for playing. So where I knew people who bought albums, had them appraised and then got them sealed with verification as to condition, I dropped them on my recordplayer and played them. Albums I did not like were sold, EXCEPT where they fitted "a" definition of my collection.
Same went with razors. They are to use, so I tried all razors that got in. Or tried to. These days I've settled on my trusty repaired vintage M37, and collect because of collecting. So partly, I went from @nongillette to @Walid Of course, razors I sell are only surplus as outlined above, not because I don't like them. Difference with vinyl.

Walid said:
As a vintage razor collector, I never exceeded 340$ USD for any razor.
Click to expand...
I'm afraid I did. Multiple times. For me so far impossible to find, for instance, a complete Mvltiplex for less. Or a Walbusch B5. Unless I'm selling it: I'm prepared to sell at a loss when there's more interesting things I'd like to buy than budget allows.
 
efsk said:
I'm afraid I did. Multiple times. For me so far impossible to find, for instance, a complete Mvltiplex for less. Or a Walbusch B5. Unless I'm selling it: I'm prepared to sell at a loss when there's more interesting things I'd like to buy than budget allows.
Click to expand...

I think where my collection got to now, The only stuff that is of interest for me to buy is above 500$. I'll take a breather for now and concentrate on taking care of what I have by buying another display and change the lighting a bit.
I do believe that there is no sense of collecting if you can't enjoy what you collected by using or simply enjoying the scenery that the display provides. It's like you chased a beautiful girl, got her and never bothered looking at her afterwards.
I cherish my collection to a point where I will get it the best display, best disposition, best maintenance and the best lighting I can get.
Hopefully this will document more of my mindset for future collectors (or psychologists) to explore and help understand better the idea of collecting.
 
Walid said:
I do believe that there is no sense of collecting if you can't enjoy what you collected by using or simply enjoying the scenery that the display provides. It's like you chased a beautiful girl, got her and never bothered looking at her afterwards.
Click to expand...
This is true. So I'm happy that I can enjoy my collection, even though I cannot display all of it. However, I swap things in and out the displays regularly, and sitting, looking at the displays and seeing the drawers beneath them does give me a sense of fulfillment.
 
efsk said:
This is true. So I'm happy that I can enjoy my collection, even though I cannot display all of it. However, I swap things in and out the displays regularly, and sitting, looking at the displays and seeing the drawers beneath them does give me a sense of fulfillment.
Click to expand...
I came to the point to make sense of what I am doing and justify the money spent, if I won't display it, I will sell it or even better, I won't buy it. This is why I am structuring my thoughts and giving a purpose to this collection beyond just hoarding, vanity and just following others.
This conversation we're having here is unique. Hopefully more will join.
 
The way I see it: yes, I'm a bit of a hoarder. However, I stopped buying soaps, stopped buying brushes, stopped buying straights. So I only buy (and hoard) safeties. I know I can't show all of them at once, however: neither can a museum. In a museum, there's the collection on display, and the collection in depot, and usually, the latter is larger than the former. The good thing however is: that means you can regularly renew the collection on display, and get a fresh exposition, or a different crosscut of the collection. This way, it never gets boring.
 
efsk said:
The way I see it: yes, I'm a bit of a hoarder. However, I stopped buying soaps, stopped buying brushes, stopped buying straights. So I only buy (and hoard) safeties. I know I can't show all of them at once, however: neither can a museum. In a museum, there's the collection on display, and the collection in depot, and usually, the latter is larger than the former. The good thing however is: that means you can regularly renew the collection on display, and get a fresh exposition, or a different crosscut of the collection. This way, it never gets boring.
Click to expand...
Very good point. The museum analogy is fantastic. Here is where I see the limits of it. Museums have all sorts of grants, revenues and donations in money or assets.
Us, we have to rely on revenues generated from hard work. We have to be prudent and not fall into "a fool and his money".

I started this thread so that we can take some of our unconscious actions to the conscious as much as possible.

It could be a problem that we have and we're not aware of (Or we're totally in denial). And a forum like this we will start feeding and enable each other, thus compounding the problem.

I am not into my first collection (you too). Before, it was: Stamps, Coins, Books, perfumes and...Vintage laptops (Linux user with emacs as my window manager EXWM). I am in a razor phase.

To how big of a length would we go to justify what we did or still doing?

Putting a clear purpose an clear guidelines and most importantly knowing the difference between the two (I am not sure you do, please don't get triggered, this is just a productive conversation) will give meaning and a direction to the collection. It will have a clearly defined theme. Too broad and you're just a hoarder with issues that you either deny or diminish.

I won't be increasing my collection beyond a certain size. My defined objectives in variety will be achieved with an extra 50 razors max, I might settle at 20. Once done the display will be increase accordingly and I will start the tweaking phase.

The tweaking phase will include the following:
  • Complete sets with missing items like blade banks, blades, strops etc...
  • Clean razors and boxes to the best I can.
  • Replace certain damaged razors or boxes.
  • Sell, exchange and replace redundant or less desirable items.
The tweaking phase can start before I complete my razor purchases.
 
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Walid said:
Linux user with emacs
Click to expand...
Everything and the kitchensink ... Over here: vi and kde. I now understand why we have heated discussions.

More serious reply to your above post later.
 
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