So, apparently commemorative razors for important events were a thing back in the day. This pretty Böker was seemingly made to celebrate the S.S. Paris and its record breaking 1889 westbound Atlantic crossing in under 6 days which won it the Blue Riband. I’m assuming this means that the razor was made sometime between 1889 and 1892, when the S.S. Paris won it again (or it would read "S.S. Paris Wins Again?), but I don’t have any tangible evidence of it.
The razor is in excellent condition, indicating that it was indeed bought as a memorabilium and then barely used. It’s either that, or it’s one of Böker’s remakes like this S.S. Saint Louis. See for old vs new versions:
Vintage S.S. St Louis
Retro (new) S.S. St Louis
The reasons why I think I have an old one despite the good condition are:
The old ones have smiling edges and spines like mine, the new ones are perfectly straight.
The old ones use brass pins like mine, the new ones use some silver-coloured metal.
The old ones have thin, rounded, polished black wood scales like mine, the new ones have bulky, flat, matte wooden scales with the Böker trademark.
Mine is stamped with just the word “Germany” on the back of the tang, and it seems to me that all modern products would read “Made in Germany”.
I’ve seen modern Bökers. The jimps and stamps look machine-made, perfectly even, while the “Germany” stamp on mine was a bit off-axis when the hammer struck the stamp and the “G” made only a barely visible impression.
But again, none of these constitute conclusive evidence, and I’m adding a dose of wishful thinking.
To the shave:
The razor has a loud hollow grind, and shaving with it is all toast buttering. When I honed it yesterday (I had received it dull like a butter knife) I think I didn’t test the edge everywhere, and the heel half of the edge is a bit tuggy (I’ll need to find styrofoam packing peanuts for this, as suggested by @gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social). But that’s minor and I’m liking this razor!
A very cool razor! I like the idea of having a commemorative piece. IIRC, products that would possibly be exported to the US needed “Made in” labels after about 1930.
Seventh Day of TabOKtoberfest
So, apparently commemorative razors for important events were a thing back in the day. This pretty Böker was seemingly made to celebrate the S.S. Paris and its record breaking 1889 westbound Atlantic crossing in under 6 days which won it the Blue Riband. I’m assuming this means that the razor was made sometime between 1889 and 1892, when the S.S. Paris won it again (or it would read "S.S. Paris Wins Again?), but I don’t have any tangible evidence of it.
The razor is in excellent condition, indicating that it was indeed bought as a memorabilium and then barely used. It’s either that, or it’s one of Böker’s remakes like this S.S. Saint Louis. See for old vs new versions:
Vintage S.S. St Louis
Retro (new) S.S. St Louis
The reasons why I think I have an old one despite the good condition are:
But again, none of these constitute conclusive evidence, and I’m adding a dose of wishful thinking.
To the shave:
The razor has a loud hollow grind, and shaving with it is all toast buttering. When I honed it yesterday (I had received it dull like a butter knife) I think I didn’t test the edge everywhere, and the heel half of the edge is a bit tuggy (I’ll need to find styrofoam packing peanuts for this, as suggested by @gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social). But that’s minor and I’m liking this razor!
Stank++;
Böker #2? Did we create a monster?!
😂
You can rest assured, this Böker is a preexisting condition, just hadn’t taken the time to hone it yet
A very cool razor! I like the idea of having a commemorative piece. IIRC, products that would possibly be exported to the US needed “Made in” labels after about 1930.
Oh … Stank++;
That fuels my wishful thinking :)