Anyone else like really old brushes?

jar

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Deep South Texas
About half of the brushes I own and use are over a half century old. Many belonged to my dad or grandfather and others are ones I bought long long ago. For all practical purposes US made shaving brushes as a main line product ceased before 1960. Many of the old US brush makers are still around today but none have made shaving brushes since about 1957; even the ones that still make brushes. Yet the brushes themselves are still fantastic as long as they have been taken care of. That shouldn't be a big surprise, my Kent hairbrush I bought in the 1960s is still in great shape today.

So are there others out there who are using and cherishing shaving brushes from your side of the pond comparable to those I use from this side of the pond?

Some of my half century or more old shaving brushes:
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I feel very lucky to have this genuine horn handle Plisson with its original knot. It's my only older brush that I own, but it keeps pace with the new kids on the block.

I've no idea of its date, so if anyone knows what period this faceted handle shape is from, please let me know.


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I'll be using my butterscotch Rooney keyhole tomorrow with its original 22mm best badger knot for the first time. Rather excited about it to be honest..:D

As far as old brushes go, I must admit a strong preference for butterscotch Catalin handles. There's just something about that 'happy accident' of age related yellowing that does it for me. I have six now.
 
Fantastic. The brush on the far right of the bottom shelf may well be Catalin; it has the translucency and internal cracks often seen with Catalin. It's a US MadeRite #95 Pure Badger.

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Tomorrow I will use the Peerless Nylon that is third from the left on the bottom shelf. It's surprising but those half century old synthetic perform as well as my modern synthetic brushes.
 
It does somewhat. Perhaps Rooney made them for Boots back in the day. I test lathered the Rooney last night to give it a bit of a clean and the best badger is super soft - more like a top grade, modern silvertip. Will be using it shortly if I can get moving....
 
It does somewhat. Perhaps Rooney made them for Boots back in the day. I test lathered the Rooney last night to give it a bit of a clean and the best badger is super soft - more like a top grade, modern silvertip. Will be using it shortly if I can get moving....

Had a shave before bed last night so used the Peerless nylon then instead of this morning.

I have never yet come across any experienced badger brushes that were marketed as Silvertip or Two Band or Three Band or any boar brushes where they used similar marketing like "blondie". Generally what I have seen on US made brushes is either "imported badger" or "pure badger".

But I have several experienced brushes that are indistinguishable from modern Silvertip or Manchurian or High Mountain. In the picture below three are modern Silvertips from Kent and Zenith and Thater and one is my over a half century old Peerless Pure Badger.

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The brush I used this morning is another example. It is a Simms made in Canada and again, simply marked as "Pure Badger" but in use it is almost exactly like my Kent and Thater Silvertips.

Fourth from left on bottom shelf:
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Lots of people use and love razors made as far back as a century ago and quite honestly, many of them shave every bit as well as any razors being made today yet we forget that there were companies making fantastic shaving brushes at the same time.

The folk on your side of the pond are fortunate though that some of those same companies are still around; makers like Simpson and Rooney and Thater and Plisson and Vulfix but in the US a decision was made that pretty much meant all the US companies simply stopped making brushes and sold off any remaining stock. At the beginning of the 1950s there were still fourteen companies making shaving brushes in the US but by the end of that decade there were none.
 
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