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!