Hiya,
See now, this is something shaving related that you foreigners should have over the Yanks. I mean jeeeez, the blades were made in the UK...gotta be a bunch of vintage packs floating around somewhere. Heh, I'm sure Steve does his best to find good homes to those when he can, and you can bet he buys em for next to nothing. I know I do at the places I find em. Like Steve, I'll buy as many as I can see in front of me (and after asking about having any not on display).
The history of those UK blades is about impossible to really figure out for dating purposes. Since there's no understandable code like a Gillette blade has, the Wilkinson blade has different 'eras', or time periods. There's the 'Golden Era' early production Light Brigade blades, and 1-2 other blades from around the same time. The last UK Wilkinsons from the 1990s wasn't supposed to be anything special from what I'd read. Heh, in between there, a LOT of different old Wilkinsons were made and sold.
You know, all of these various versions I've tried have been better than average, and some have been excellent. One of em just recently became my favorite blade, since the Iridium was finally dethroned after three years or so. Surprised the hell outta me finding a blade I liked more than the Russians.
They usually aren't expensive, even on ebay. The exception would be those Light Brigades, which can sell for $4 each. Pretty nuts eh? You just gotta pick and choose a bit, and at the most, vintage Wilkinsons shouldn't cost more than half a buck each. Cost a dime or less per shave....very easy to rationalize. Of course (in a nod to the Canuck), there's always the possibilty of cooties, even if the pack is sealed. You have to weigh that carefully when deciding to purchase old blades.....who knows where those things have been all these years?
You guys should be buying a pack or two, just for the hell of it and because they're a local product. I'm not saying you'll find a magical blade (althought it's possible) but it'll at least be a good journey spent with a UK classic bit of shaving history.
Martin
A few pics of different era blades:
