Stahly Live Blade Vibrating Razor in case and box, about 1945

This is a very good example of an early Stahly Live Blade Shaver. By winding the knob on the base, the handle and head vibrates to provide a smoother shave with less effort. Apparently, it worked pretty well. They were sold as a premium product from 1942 through at least 1978 with almost no change in design.

Waits lists a similar example as being sold for $22.50 in a wooden box in 1945. This one has an "imported pigskin" travel pouch and a cardboard box, and looks like it was priced at $21 or $21.50 (the tag is torn), so we think that's a reasonable date. Uses standard Gillette style double edge razor blades, which are available in many brands from a variety of sources.

We consider this to be in very good condition. A good part of this is the fact that it still operates. It's getting harder and harder to find working examples. We wound it up and it ran for over 3 and a half minutes, although it was pretty weak by then. The gold plating is almost gone from the base of the handle, and the head has some worn spots and brassing, but it still looks good. Something more than our "light clean and sterilize" process might help it more. The leather pouch and box are in very good shape.

One neat feature of these razors is, they have the same head threading as the Gillette style razors. You can take the head form a Gillette Tech, New, Old Type, etc and put on this handle to experiment with different shaves. If you try this, with some models you may need to put in a washer or spacer to make the head tighten down all the way. Since other razors also use the Gillette threads, the possibilities are almost endless!

Very interesting piece of shaving history to collect or use.