Northstonehill
Well-Known Member
While I wait for the leather #15 set to be finished (report on this will follow) I took a single photo of the full roster so far, just to kill the boredom...
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Gillette Aristocrats
- Thread starter gvw755
- Start Date
gvw755
Well-Known Member
@Northstonehill, perhaps you should go for a walk or watch a movie. Your boredom is killing me! 
Northstonehill
Well-Known Member
Latest Aristocrat addition resulting from a remarkable case refurbishment.
A razor friend alerted me to this beat up but very rare #15 British Aristocrat set holding a standard 2nd generation rhodium razor in a very special dark brown leather clad case in pigskin, sporting two nickel plated blade holders inside.
A rarely seen case design - and a hypothesis on its origins...
The same case design was seen earlier in the 1930s #19 and #20 Aristocrat sets, though with different color schemes, but no one really knows where this particular #15 2nd generation combination originally came from. We know that 2nd generation Aristocrat razors came out around 1948, so maybe this is yet another of those infamous British Gillette instances of “we have a bunch of these old surplus case parts, let’s make another case design and get them used up...”. This hypothetic story might actually be likely as this #15 set as said was made only a few years after the end of WWII where Gillette may have had problems sourcing material for new parts.
No matter what the story is, only very very few specimens surface nowadays.
A stunning restoration
When I got this set the case was in the same sad condition as most other Gillette #15/#19/#20 pigskin clad cases we see today. The leather exterior coat was very thin to begin with, and most have invariably dried up and cracked over the many decades gone by since. This case even arrived buck naked, with someone having removed all traces of the outer leather. The case was pretty banged up in general, spring broken, but it still showed its unique insides with two nickel plated blade holders.
But my friend offered to refurbish it inside and out, and here is the amazing result along with a few pics from the process!
A razor friend alerted me to this beat up but very rare #15 British Aristocrat set holding a standard 2nd generation rhodium razor in a very special dark brown leather clad case in pigskin, sporting two nickel plated blade holders inside.
A rarely seen case design - and a hypothesis on its origins...
The same case design was seen earlier in the 1930s #19 and #20 Aristocrat sets, though with different color schemes, but no one really knows where this particular #15 2nd generation combination originally came from. We know that 2nd generation Aristocrat razors came out around 1948, so maybe this is yet another of those infamous British Gillette instances of “we have a bunch of these old surplus case parts, let’s make another case design and get them used up...”. This hypothetic story might actually be likely as this #15 set as said was made only a few years after the end of WWII where Gillette may have had problems sourcing material for new parts.
No matter what the story is, only very very few specimens surface nowadays.
A stunning restoration
When I got this set the case was in the same sad condition as most other Gillette #15/#19/#20 pigskin clad cases we see today. The leather exterior coat was very thin to begin with, and most have invariably dried up and cracked over the many decades gone by since. This case even arrived buck naked, with someone having removed all traces of the outer leather. The case was pretty banged up in general, spring broken, but it still showed its unique insides with two nickel plated blade holders.
But my friend offered to refurbish it inside and out, and here is the amazing result along with a few pics from the process!
Northstonehill
Well-Known Member
That is an empty #21 case for one of the 2nd gen razors - because the current case for that one is reserved for a secret project
Northstonehill
Well-Known Member
#14. YAY 
The #14 set is a true rarity due to the special case. The razor is a standard wonderful 1st generation Aristocrat, rhodium plated, as seen in the more prevalent #15 set (in a nickel plated case). But the black leather clad case with purple interior and only 1 bladebank makes this 14 a unicorn. I never saw one for sale before, and if one googles it only very few links pop up even mentioning it.
The case is exactly like the US 1934 case but with different color interior. Another example of Gillette reusing designs in slightly different formats.
The #14 set is a true rarity due to the special case. The razor is a standard wonderful 1st generation Aristocrat, rhodium plated, as seen in the more prevalent #15 set (in a nickel plated case). But the black leather clad case with purple interior and only 1 bladebank makes this 14 a unicorn. I never saw one for sale before, and if one googles it only very few links pop up even mentioning it.
The case is exactly like the US 1934 case but with different color interior. Another example of Gillette reusing designs in slightly different formats.
Northstonehill
Well-Known Member
Ditto! - I am curious too! I find these to be some of the smoothest OC’s, only matched by the Goodwill. Let us know.
