A small success at foraging for vintage shaving kit

So, Sunday morning, time to give the car boot sale in Leamington another go. This time I got there earlier and it was a lot busier. Literally hundreds of traders spread over several rugby pitches. There are two sorts of traders, the semi professionals, who tend to specialise: fishing equipment, DVDs, cosmetics etc etc. And then there are the genuine car booters who sort out a pile of junk they don’t need and come along to turn it into money. They sell quite literally everything. Obviously only this latter group are going to be of any use to me, but will they think it is worth bringing along an old razor?

The answer, quite obviously is no. Many of them must have one lying around, they just don’t think that anyone would be interested. Except for the girl who bought an old, men’s, leather cased, travel grooming kit. The contents were quite comprehensive, a metal backed hair brush, a comb, a toothbrush, a plastic shaving stick container with a metal lid, a mirror, a plastic shaving brush container with a metal lid, a shaving brush, a mirror and a double edged razor. The razor is an English, aluminium handled, Gillette Tech. All in a “Vantage” brand case made of “”Sundew Hide”, which Google knows nothing about.

Usually such kits were bought as gifts. And usually they were never used, they just gathered dust. This one has been used, but not much. The contents are all in a bucket of hot water and disinfectant right now. Some will be binned. But some will find a use. The razor certainly is a new addition to my collection.

And how much did all this cost me? One whole English pound!

Also there is a tactic that would yield results. Just go round the whole car boot and tell every trader that you are interested in shaving kit and that you will be back again on an upcoming Sunday. Then they would all root out their old shaving kit and bring it along. This might actually be worth doing with the way that classic antique razors are going up in value.

1 Comment


  1. Do you have the address ? Would be good fun

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