GUEST: What I brought today is an Ever-Ready Safety Razor display that I have looked at since well before I could shave. My parents bought it at an antique mall very close to where they live in the late '70s for $65. I frequented flea markets and antique malls and antique shows with them for years, and as you get older, you get an appreciation for what your parents do, and I would see other things that I recognized from their display, but this is something that... I'm 32 now, and I haven't seen another one, so I brought it here today to find out a little bit more about it.
APPRAISER: Well, starting in the late half of the 19th century, there was several companies producing most all the blades in the country. Then, starting around 1905 to 1906, we had the Ever-Ready company name start to be used. This piece, we believe, would be somewhere around the 19-teens or '20s. This is a tin die-cut store display made for use on the counter, so this was loaned to the store, of course, that was selling their product, and it says on the back that it's owned by them still, by the razor company.
GUEST: Oh, so are we legally allowed to own this?
APPRAISER: Oh, by now, yes, by now, a hundred years later, yes.
GUEST: All right, all right, that's a relief. (laughs)
APPRAISER: American Safety Razor Company, that's the parent company for Ever-Ready. We see "American Safety Razor Company, Brooklyn, New York." This is where the product would be accessed on the countertop display. Based on the materials, the printing, I would put the date on this at the late teens, possibly into the 1920s. Their patent dates for their blades were between 1912 and about 1934, that they were using the Ever-Ready name. And then the Ever-Ready radio blade is going to pinpoint it more down to about 1918-1919, to maybe about 1928. Your father had a great eye. This particular counter display, there's, well, perhaps one or two a year that we see. It's very desirable, has fabulous graphics, with the gentleman there. Did you have any idea of the value?
GUEST: Not really, I... Maybe a grand or something like that? It would be fantastic if it was worth that.
APPRAISER: Yeah, it's a very rare countertop display item. And this one we would expect to sell for at auction between $3,000 and $4,000.
GUEST: Wow-- really? That's great. Uh, it's... Three to four grand, whew. My parents did have a good eye.
APPRAISER: Yeah, at auction. The last one sold for a little over $4,000. The one before that sold for almost $5,000.
