For twenty-seven years Gillette put a number on its razors, and the shape of that number changed twice. Reading it is a matter of knowing which era you are in: a bare number, a letter in front, or a letter behind.
Serial numbers were impressed on all Gillette razors from 1904 until 1921, and on deluxe models from 1921 until 1931, with one documented interruption. Numbering began after 5 November 1904 — before that, roughly fifty-five thousand razors were made without numbers at all — and the first series runs as plain numbers from 1 to 999999 across 1904 to 1907.
From 1907 a letter was added in front of the number, running A through P, and this is where the shape of the number carries information: the letter is the year era of the sequence, and the digits continue underneath it. Two letters were never used as prefixes at all. I was not used as a serial prefix, and neither was O, which is the same reason O never appears in the blade date-code alphabet. L was kept out of the prefix sequence because it was used to stamp razors that came in for repair.
In May 1921 the 1904 patent expired and the New Improved received a new numbering format beginning with 1A — and the letter moved from in front of the number to behind it. The suffixes run A, B and C, so a New Improved razor reads as a number followed by a letter, where the earlier razors read as a letter followed by a number.
The wartime J series is a separate sequence. All J series razors are First World War production and all were United States military, and their numbers run from J1 and do not intersect the civilian flow, which is why they are set out as a series of their own rather than folded into the year table.
There is a documented window in which no numbers were stamped: 18 October 1927 to 27 August 1928. A razor from that window cannot be numbered, and its absence is not a fault.
The last numbered series of the era is the De Luxe of 1930, which started at 1-D and often had the final D omitted, and it is the only series in 1930 in which razors were numbered at all. The upper bound of that series is not printed in any source. After it, the numbering stops: there were no razor serial numbers from 1931 until 1951.
Two prefixes at the start of a number are not part of the sequence at all. A leading L, and on some razors an X, marks a razor that was sent back to the factory and repaired; those numbers sit outside the normal production sequence, so they will not date the razor. The collector wiki gives the same reasoning from the other side: L was not used as a serial prefix precisely because it was used as a repair mark.
A bare number, a letter in front, or a letter behind. The shape tells you which series and roughly which era you are in before any table is consulted.
Plain numbers 1904 to 1907, letter-prefix numbers 1907 to 1921, letter-suffix numbers with the New Improved from 1921, the J series for military production, and the De Luxe series of 1930.
The window from 18 October 1927 to 27 August 1928 has no numbers, and a leading L or X is a repair mark that never dates.
· 4 rows · Continuous numbering 1–999999. Numbering began on 5 November 1904 (Shave Dad: “Numbering begins after 5 November 1904”); B&B adds that before it began roughly 55 000 razors were produced without numbers.
| Prefix | From | To | Years | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 45424 | 1904 | Badger & Blade forum | |
| 45425 | 370424 | 1905 | Badger & Blade forum | |
| 370425 | 770424 | 1906 | Badger & Blade forum | |
| 770425 | 999999 | 1907 | Badger & Blade forum |
· 1 rows · “In Canada, the Montreal plant restarted its sequence of serial numbers from 1Z and probably continued until the end of the New Improved line in 1929.” The suffix is the letter Z (not A/B/C, as in the USA).
| Prefix | From | To | Years | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 96302 | 1921–1929 | Badger & Blade forum |
It depends on the era. From 1907 the letter came in front of the number, and with the New Improved from May 1921 it moved behind it, beginning with 1A. The position of the letter is the quickest way to place a numbered razor in the right series.
None. A leading L, and on some razors an X, marks a razor that went back to the factory and was repaired; those numbers sit outside the production sequence and will not date the razor.
Because there is a documented window without numbers from 18 October 1927 to 27 August 1928. A razor made inside it carries no serial number, and there is nothing missing from it.