New eBay seller sells Frank Shaving Manchurian Silvertip cheap

Diqiu-Long

Diqiu-Long

Messages
652
Location
The Netherlands
I would like to share this with you guys, I found last week a eBay seller that is new and he is selling Frank Shaving brushes.

I bought this Manchurian Silvertip from him.

$%28KGrHqNHJDcE-o13oU%29NBPzCdJ5vUg%7E%7E60_3.JPG


$%28KGrHqVHJEoE-luv7YrsBPzCi4Oe6%21%7E%7E60_3.JPG


It's really cheap and much cheaper then the popular Frank Shaving seller Ian Tang, this Manchurian Silvertip just costed me $ 21,98 with shipping included, this is just 14.21 British Pounds Sterling and about € 18.

The seller doesnt provide the really detailed spec's but its price is really cheap. He still got other cheap brushes and just a few cheap Machurian Silvertips.

This is the only cheap Manchurian Silvertip that he right now is selling.

The rest he is offering Frank Finest, but even the finest are much cheaper then at Ian Tang, but I think this is for a limited time, these low prices much be to build a feedback on eBay.
 
Yes that wouldn't hurt, but I take it for granted, knowing the cheapest Silvertip from Ian Tang is double price. I think the seller he still is learning, because he started already adding the knot size. For someone like me who doesnt know about knot sizes its not really a problem that he doesn't have those details.

Anyway these Silvertips he is selling are promotional ones. You can see on the image below.

2012071112421816565.jpg


I also contacted one buyer and he said the following.

Yup. Second brush I got fm frank. Its better than the best badger I bought. It's softer on the face and spread well. When I initially got it and wash it, quite a number of strands came off. No worries as the brush is quite dense. There is a smell though as of all his brushes. Couple of washes will rid of that. Overall it's a good buy. U cant go wrong at this pricing.
Click to expand...
 
antdad said:
Makes you wonder who's having us over...Simpson or Frank.
Click to expand...

Well, Simpson has to pay UK wages and probably throws out a lot of the badger pelt. They might spend more time grading the hair too.

You might be shocked at how cheap FS brushes are wholesale.
 
asharperrazor said:
antdad said:
Makes you wonder who's having us over...Simpson or Frank.
Click to expand...

Well, Simpson has to pay UK wages and probably throws out a lot of the badger pelt. They might spend more time grading the hair too.

You might be shocked at how cheap FS brushes are wholesale.
Click to expand...

I looked into wholesale not that long ago so it doesn't surprise me...did I not see your name attached to some brushes or am I mistaken? WSP or WSD the name escapes me. They looked very dense and good value.
 
antdad said:
asharperrazor said:
antdad said:
Makes you wonder who's having us over...Simpson or Frank.
Click to expand...

Well, Simpson has to pay UK wages and probably throws out a lot of the badger pelt. They might spend more time grading the hair too.

You might be shocked at how cheap FS brushes are wholesale.
Click to expand...

I looked into wholesale not that a while ago so it doesn't surprise me...did I not see your name attached to some brushes or am I mistaken? WSP or WSD the name escapes me. They looked very dense and good value.
Click to expand...

Yes, I do sell the WSP (Wet Shaving Products) branded brushes. I like them, but I sell them and they're made to my specifications so.... take my opinion for what it's worth. Less than 2 pence. :p

The Delong brushes wholesale for quite a bit if anyone was interested, but their handles are nice. I think they may sell to Shavemac (just the handles). They make the Parker brushes.
 
All in reasonable humour Mark...obviously when one retailer offers a similarly described product (clearly not of similar quality) then it's a fairly legit question.

I can't help thinking that if manufacturers actually got together and tried to standardize badger hair description, quality and production then in the long term it'll be better for you all. This is just the thin end of the wedge, in time Chinese quality will certainly improve if it hasn't already, Muhle are seriously moving to synthetics and eventually the spotlight will be pointed to the dark arts of badger hair production and purchasing.
 
Badgers are little pests that need to be managed up in the rural areas of China. If you look at a badger pelt, there are only a few areas that can serve as silvertip, best, & pure. Silvertip being the whitest tips from the neck area, best being the darker, but still white, area around the sides, and the other hair being the gray mixed hair running down the back and splitting up the "top" of the badger from the "bottom".

Apparently I have been informed that black badger, finest badger, and mixed badger come from a different species. The hog badger. This makes sense as miles miles doesn't have pure black hair. Nor does it have two banded hair.

As for different grades of silvertip, badgers get a thicker coat in the winter, lighter coat in the summer. They molt in the spring. Thus, you would get different performance depending on when you harvest the hairs. In addition, some companies treat the hairs to speed up the natural breaking in process that a good natural brush should go through for optimal softness.

The main difference with companies is the quality of the knot making. IMO. The rest is just marketing. Plisson and Kent might make sure their badgers are caught during a certain time of year and perhaps theirs are farmed for better hair consistency.

Either case, theres only one species of badger that our silvertip comes from.
 
So which species? This I bought was listed as Manchurian Silvertip. But some research learned that Manchurian is an area in north east China, one some shaving forums I read Manchurian an really good type off badger hair.

Some said its best off both worlds, which worlds I don't really remember, but they where talking about Simpson who also sell Manchurian Silvertip, but one thing understand, Manchurian is something new, I don't know where the badgers come from they use for other badger brushes, but I understood its not so common to see Manchurian Silvertips, there are just some brands who offer this.

Manchuria.png


So this area is where they got the Manchurian badger hair.
 
Manchurian is not a new, just a revived marketing term for a particular type of badger hair.

@ASR

Don't get me wrong I couldn't give a badgers behind about their welfare especially as they are considered pests and a food source but it'll only take some footage of ill treatment and a persistent campaign to stop the trade completely perhaps not in the US but in the EU.
 
@ Antdad,
Sad. I think they're just trapped though. I don't see them being susceptible to domestication, and if they are, then only the most prestigious firms could front the expense. That said, I don't actually know how they're killed after being trapped. They are supposedly gassed.

Manchuria is a country to the north of China. Maybe they source it from there. The Meles Meles badger only lives in the northern parts of China anyway so, that is obviously not it. That and there is no distinct sub species of eurasian badger that I am aware of. So in reality, all meles meles badger hair from China can technically probably be called Manchurian. As for the hog badger, they are from southern China and would be more akin to the other ethnic Chinese. Considered an underclass as well. *This is getting strangely parallel to the social pecking order of China...*

But regarding the FS Manchurian badger, it just looks like regular silvertip to me. The Simpsons Manchurian looks like a Simpsons 2 band with a more fan shaped head, thus making the white tips seem shorter, but in reality, each individual hair's white tips are the same length. The bulb shape makes the top most white hairs blend seamlessly into the outer hairs tips, which are consequently set lower.

TLDR: Manchurian badger is a marketing term as far as I'm concerned. Until someone can name the actual sub species or farm that actually raises these "special" badgers, I don't believe they're any different.

But that is not to say that they don't cherry pick the best hairs that meet certain qualifications. Just that the badger is the same species and type.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom