SMF

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Mr Mxyztplk wrote:Just saw this. Are British Rockets really that good?

No they are not

edit- to clarify, not when you can buy a 40's style superspeed on this board for under $30...

Rick, Jeez!....and that's just a regular one, not a HD. Who can say? I mean, to anyone who was buying razors on eBay even two years ago, prices like this are absurd......like what happened to real estate prices here during that speculative bubble awhile back. "You're asking WHAT?!....you're joking, right?"....that sort of thing. On the other hand, they've kind of gottcha if you can't, or aren't willing to put in the time, to try and find a good DE at local flea markets, and don't care for Merkurs. One by one, all the better models have been 'discovered' and the prices raised accordingly, First the really rare ones, then the classic Superspeeds, then most of the English '50s models, and recently, even Fatboys and Slims have become expensive. A couple of years ago, experianced collectors on the forums were advising members never to pay more then $30 for a Gillette ( unless it was a 195 or something ). Today that's a joke if you want anything really good ( or unless you're both highly determined and very lucky ). All I can say at this point is that I'm damn glad that I have the razors I already do. Oh, and yes....the Rockets ARE very good shavers, I think.
Regards,
Gordon

You know, I'm really starting to think that even looking for a razor on eBay is, at this time, just not a good idea. Both due to prices and due to the increased reports of misidentified/damaged/or plain crappy razors that get shipped.

I found two very nice razors today at a flea market (another Aristocrat 47 and a Milord). Neither are mint or even excellent, but both function just fine.

I paid $20 for both of them. That's two nice razors for $10 each plus about one hour of my time.

That's a deal.

I may be in the minority but when I look at the condition of the razor and case, they seem excelent. Add to that the very scarce instructions and you have a very nice collector piece. Also I believe judojapan is a member here and an experienced shaver. So what we have here is a case of a collector willing to pay a little more than the users. Most of his other auction wins are for collector grade pieces as well.

I must admit I am very jelous of those Rocket instructions!

$150 for a thin handle Rocket? No way. I have no idea how much the extras are worth to collectors, but, those instructions better be worth it, cause the razor sure isn't.

even some of the rare GEMs arent that much...

Rick it's just value perception driven by the sellers. Twenty years ago I could buy quality working fountain pens for $10-$15 dollars each. A few years later after a couple books hit the market and after some articles appeared in the antique trade mags I'm talking to a dealer in a large flea market in New Orleans who wanted $35 because, "the book said so". I offered to sell her a hundred of them for $10 each and, after a pause, she said, "I'm a seller, not a buyer".

I suspect the same thing has happened in other hobby areas. Now we have ebay and when dealers see a big sale the price jumps up and uninformed buyers pay the perceived worth. Just how much are cabbage patch dolls selling for now days.

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As well as the used-razor market going up as a whole, in addition, it has been observed (by others more attentive than I am) that certain models gain recognition and suddenly start selling for more money. Certain members are paying big bucks for this problem, by choosing to hunt for models that are currently "hot items".

If you want to buy razors that are the latest thing, mainly because they're the latest thing, you're going to pay dearly for the privilege.

The problem, I guess, is that quite a number of good razors are all sharing latest-thing status at the moment.

If you are a collector, or if you want something the collectors want, or even if you just want pristine collector quality, then you have to expect collector-style prices that far outweigh any practical value of the item.

I have quite a few razors now, and they all fall into the same category: ones that collectors would turn up their noses at, but that within the category of "user" razors are spectacularly nice. I overpaid for my first good razor because I was excessively rash as a newbie. The others have all been pretty fair prices I think.

my favorite razors to use are not "lookers".

John 5 wrote:$150 for a thin handle Rocket? No way.

So how much did you end up paying for that Coates Tea Tree?

Has Gillette totally stopped making DE's? If so, maybe they should reconsider. Think of what they could charge for a brand new 2008 fatboy!

RJ wrote:Has Gillette totally stopped making DE's? If so, maybe they should reconsider. Think of what they could charge for a brand new 2008 fatboy!

If it would truly make them money, they would already be doing it.

it would be nice if they did something sort of like a limited edition safety razor. but then again because it would be LIMITED, it would probably go for a pretty penny..

Mr Mxyztplk wrote:...

Okay, maybe I am dense, but what does ... mean?

Sam wrote:

Mr Mxyztplk wrote:...

Okay, maybe I am dense, but what does ... mean?

It means "I have thrown my toys out of the pram".

Thank you, Dominic. I'd noticed a lot of posts like that and was curious. It certainly does mess with continuity. But we'll get over it.

There's nothing less dramatic than web dramatics. (Except maybe for my junior high production of Macbeth. But I digress.)

D.Irving79 wrote:it would be nice if they did something sort of like a limited edition safety razor. but then again because it would be LIMITED, it would probably go for a pretty penny..

Absolutely. It would be nice, if they did it right. But if they did it right, it would cost them wads of cash to do so, and then there'd be no profit in it.