Been A While...What Happened?

Friends and Clients,

You may have noticed the seeming absence of new postings over the last 3 months.  Well, I have a note from the teacher - I've been consulting out-of-town for a considerable length of time.  Rest assured that we are preparing some very special things for this holiday season.  Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Ramadan or just enjoy the cold, clear nights of winter, we will have something that will be special to you.  Keep checking our store and ebay, particularly in a couple of weeks, for some very nice things.

The Vintage Shaving Shoppe Gets "The Chair"

It's not just about the razor or the quality of the shave - at least it isn't for me and for most serious collectors I know.  Razors hanging on a wall or even in a nice glassed-in case look somewhat odd and forlorn set there alone in a living room or office.  The finest and most enjoyable collections I have ever seen are put in a setting that gives it context, history...a flavor of shaving past if you like. 

It is with this in mind that I am proud to announce that The Vintage Shaving Shoppe has just laid its hands on a near mint condition 1920s era Koken Barber's Chair with child seat.  This beautiful item is all porcelain and nickel plated iron. It has the original headrest, original upholstery (or if re-upholstered, it was done many years using original materials).  The hydraulics work wonderfully and the chair tilts and swivels like new.  The chair is SO good, that all I have done to it is added hydraulic fluid, lubricated the moving parts and polished and protected the finishes. The only work I am having done (at no small expense) is re-plating the two footrest surfaces with nickel to return them to "showroom" condition and re-upholstering the child seat.  The chair should be available for sale in two to three weeks for $2,500.  It weighs approximately 350 lbs, so local pick up is required.  I will work with serious collectors who don't mind the considerable expense of having the chair shipped to a distant location.

I have also been buying other items that will provide context to and enhance, your collection, including two Gillette display cases, two wooden Sanitizer cabinets and a early 20th century beauticians license.  Please feel free to contact me at assistance@vintageshavingshoppe.com if there are items you are searching for that I may not be currently displaying.

Here are a few "preview" pictures of the chair:

Spring Cleaning & Organizing

Been spending quite a lot of time trying to organize my inventory.  Not surprisingly, since I have been in antiques for quite a long time, there are MANY things other than razors that I have.  One thing I am doing that does not sound terribly exciting - but actually is - is creating a computerized inventory of every razor I have.

"So what does that do for me?" you ask.

Well, I'll tell you.  When I am finally done (I am up to around 150 razors in the database now), I will be able to instantly search and location razors by:

• Brand
• Grind
• Scale Material
• Shave Ready/Not Shave Ready
• Blade Size

That should be of GREAT interest to all of you specialists out there.  Now if you are looking for a Wade & Butcher "cleaver" I can tell you how many I have that are shave-ready.  Do you hanker for razors with ivory scales?  I will be able to find our how many I have and exactly what manufacturer made the blade in less than a minute.  Considering that I have nearly 1,000 razors in stock, that is going to be a very interesting database.

Since I do all of this work in the evenings, it will please me greatly to have my two daughters over the summer (part time) assisting me with this project.  While they are somewhat less than enthusiastic about their "summer job," I believe it will teach them the value of hard work...well, I can dream, can't I?

Sales of the diamond slurries and men's shaving products on the new website have been excellent (thank you all!)  I am working on getting some razors on the site.

In the spirit of my spring cleaning, you will find me disposing of some very nice items that are completely unrelated to shaving.  Today I put up a killer collection of working vintage guitar effects pedals.  You should check them out if you play, or if your kids do.

Thanks again for your business and for reading my blog!

John