Hallmark open comb DE razor - anyone know it?

[vferdman]

I found this the other day in the wild and bought it as NOS. It came in the bottom half of its cardboard box. It does look unused. I gave it a wash and tried it. It shaves very well! a bit more aggressive than Gillette New long comb. Not a super-aggressive, but very smooth and handles beautifully. The handle is bakelite and is light, the head is about as heavy as the New, so the balance is towards the head. The shape and feel of the handle is great and the whole razor works very well. The top plate is wider than the base plate, so most of the width of the blade is covered, which is a nice touch. It's a two piece design with the base plate becoming loose when not tightened to the top plate. Very curious razor and a great shaver!

Pics:



















Brush is ER 100T restored with Omega boar from TGN. Handle has been reshaped a bit to make smooth curves. One of my very favorite brushes and get LOTS of use.

--
Vladimir

[CMur12]

Vladimir, that is a helluva find! The razor is beautiful and it shaves well. Great photos, too. (I find especially clever the first photo with the open comb parting the bristle.)

Thanks for bringing this unique razor to our awareness.

- Murray

[brothers]

Nice looking razor Vladimir. Thanks for posting the great pics. I notice one very classy design detail, and that is that the ends of the top piece extend out to cover the ends of the razor blade, when loaded. Not all razors have this feature. Use it in good health!

[vferdman]

Yes, the blade width is covered mostly, which is a nice touch. Very interesting machine and I only saw pictures of one other, which had a white handle and was in terrible condition plating-wise. Mine is literally unused, which is great. My love of OC razors is furthered by this one. I wish I could find out more about it, though...

[Craig_From_Cincy]

Nice find!

[Pauldog]

I rushed over to my local Walgreens, scoured the Hallmark aisle, but could not find this razor! When I asked the sales clerks, they all looked at me funny, and one of them said, "Double edge? What's that? Did Gillette double up on the blades in the Fusion?"

[brothers]

Pauldog, I bet you did! If you find one, please pick one up for me too!

[robert-00]

For what its worth, Hall Mark (two words) was registered as a trademark 9 Apr 1934 by Prybrands, Inc., Long Island City, N.Y. They claimed first use on 1 Mar 1934. Prybrands was also the Conrad Razor Blade Co. of Long Island, they had a string of trademarks during 1932-1934 (Info from Safety Razor Compendium).
There may be no connection with your great find.
But I found this on the web: http://www.etsy.com/listing/38871048/vi ... -razor-set
A Google search turned up some info on the B&B forum.