Acquisitions - March 2025

Johnny Bravo said:
I am always amazed how people are still finding old gear on mint condition after all this time and that's Brut will be smelt 30 mins before you appear in the room.
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I've pondered this ...

When Mitchell's closed up, I had a thought that their stuff would come out of the woodwork for years if not decades but actually I reconsidered that thought and came to the idea that it likely will not.

Why, then does stuff like Brut and Old Spice keep turning up in mint packaging?

Well, I think it's because that stuff it of an era ... of an era up to about 1990 when shaving then took a strong turn towards convenience with cartridges and shaving foam as de rigeur. That stuff is of an era when the kind of things you bought Dad, brother, son, husband for birthday or Christmas, particularly Christmas.

Look back through the Argos catalogues of the 1980s and marvel over the things of the day for men. Pens, wallets, calculators, razors, shaving soap packs. There wasn't a proliferation of the marketplace like today, but a core of strong names. Strong names that had lasted for decades. If it was true of the 1980s, it was true of the 1970s, the 1960s ...

There wasn't a great deal else to actually buy for a fella and so he might end up with quite a few such things as surplus and I think this is why this stuff could easily be put in the loft and forgotten about. Years on, there are outlets for this stuff on the internet where only little over a decade ago there was not - you might have found this sort of stuff in charity shops.

We at that perfect crossroads in time of technology having implemented a new global marketplace with forgotten stuff liberated from lofts as the products marketed. It may not last, but on the other hand so long as the marketplace is still there (which I strongly think it will be in some form or another) then this stuff will continue to find its way onto that market. Whether newer stuff continues to be hoarded in lofts to come out decades later is another question.
 
@pjgh
pjgh said:
Cassette Rack Gift Set!

What a fantastic find @Comebackstrodds ... I love how seemingly unconnected things could be put together as a shaving gift pack for fellas. We're a simple bunch really. If this were today, it'd be bundled with a phone/watch/earbud charging station or something like.

The hand soap is lovely! I have a couple of branded hand soaps in their respective cases. Really nice.
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Your right, It made me laugh as I have a carrier bag full of cassette tapes so will come in handy despite that fact I can’t remember when I last played a tape. I was impressed with the soap and dish it looks straight out the factory.
 
Well it depends if you have a hoarding personality. My Dad started growing a long beard in the 80's. I mean Father Christmas long, but relatives would still send him guy gifts, Brut and Old Spice coffrets. He didn't give them away or donate to charity, but hoarded them. My brother found tons of stuff which he binned without talking to me. Now did I want a 30 year old Toblerone, no. But I would have killed for an aftershave gift set..
 
Comebackstrodds said:
@pjgh

Your right, It made me laugh as I have a carrier bag full of cassette tapes so will come in handy despite that fact I can’t remember when I last played a tape. I was impressed with the soap and dish it looks straight out the factory.
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Through the 2000s, I had a string of retro-cars from the 1980s which often came with cassette storage built into the central arm rest or even into a cubby hole in the lower dash. While I swapped out the head unit for a CD/MP3 unit, I did enjoy filling the cassette racks with period cassettes - Genesis, Phil Collins, Grace Jones, Dire Straits, Meatloaf, Iron Maiden ... the kind of big albums of the 1980s.
 
Sabre said:
Well it depends if you have a hoarding personality. My Dad started growing a long beard in the 80's. I mean Father Christmas long, but relatives would still send him guy gifts, Brut and Old Spice coffrets. He didn't give them away or donate to charity, but hoarded them. My brother found tons of stuff which he binned without talking to me. Now did I want a 30 year old Toblerone, no. But I would have killed for an aftershave gift set..
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You've hit the nail on the head there ... despite the beard, he'd still get shaving stuff (or at least big name smellies). I said it above, there wasn't a lot to actually buy for a fellow in those days.
 
pjgh said:
I've pondered this ...

When Mitchell's closed up, I had a thought that their stuff would come out of the woodwork for years if not decades but actually I reconsidered that thought and came to the idea that it likely will not.

Why, then does stuff like Brut and Old Spice keep turning up in mint packaging?

Well, I think it's because that stuff it of an era ... of an era up to about 1990 when shaving then took a strong turn towards convenience with cartridges and shaving foam as de rigeur. That stuff is of an era when the kind of things you bought Dad, brother, son, husband for birthday or Christmas, particularly Christmas.

Look back through the Argos catalogues of the 1980s and marvel over the things of the day for men. Pens, wallets, calculators, razors, shaving soap packs. There wasn't a proliferation of the marketplace like today, but a core of strong names. Strong names that had lasted for decades. If it was true of the 1980s, it was true of the 1970s, the 1960s ...

There wasn't a great deal else to actually buy for a fella and so he might end up with quite a few such things as surplus and I think this is why this stuff could easily be put in the loft and forgotten about. Years on, there are outlets for this stuff on the internet where only little over a decade ago there was not - you might have found this sort of stuff in charity shops.

We at that perfect crossroads in time of technology having implemented a new global marketplace with forgotten stuff liberated from lofts as the products marketed. It may not last, but on the other hand so long as the marketplace is still there (which I strongly think it will be in some form or another) then this stuff will continue to find its way onto that market. Whether newer stuff continues to be hoarded in lofts to come out decades later is another question.
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I think that’s spot on about MWF, I don’t think we’ll see a massive amount of it being flogged in years to come.

Back in the 70s 80s and even 90s Brut and Old Spice were mainstay on shelf’s in every shop from boots to Woolworths and all supermarkets. There was an abundance of the stuff that would have just ended up hoarded by folks for decades.
 
WiffWaff said:
I could actually live with Arko as my one and only soap. But I decided to indulge myself
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Nav said:
WOW where did you come across a Lea tallow puck?

I think it'd be around a decade since they discontinued the tallow version.
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I got it from a chap in Northern Ireland who had stock pilled the tallow favourites over the years and was offloading some which included tabac, MWF, Kent, Palmolive sticks, Cyril salter and a random Lea Puck. I could tell it was old as had Pinterest listed with the social media channels on the packaging. Still gave a very nice shave and could still pick a light menthol touch.
 
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