Description
NO RETURN NO EXCHANGE ON THIS ITEM
The USFWS is *extremely* difficult to deal with in the 2020s, the policy at TSS is that you can return anything you wish as long as it is not hair scissors (if you’re in the biz, you know what’s goin’ on!) or anything governed by the USFWS.
Given the USFW headaches which you cannot possibly imagine, I’m only keeping the permit because of exotic straight razor handles like this one; you-know-where’s all but killed off the market of European shaving brushes, so we’ll still import those from Dovo and Thiers-Issard because they can ride along with parcels of much larger value, but the days of being able to import inexpensive and not-from-you-know-where shaving brushes are deceased – USFWS restricts the quantity (24 units of dead animals) and value (max $5000 in the parcel) of items so low, and assigns such a fees basis so high (after UPS/FedEx/DHL get their cut, ~$250-300 of bs just for the right to move that box), that the overhead of USFWS-and-shipping-company-related accounting creativity per unit of inventory is too high to hide to you in the retail cost.
In every case of these types of USFWS-governed items, we’ll sell the item with individual pictures of the stock; you get exactly the item you choose. If you have any further questions about an item you’re “considering”, contact us, we’ll make a video, stand on our head…whatever you want us to do to clarify better looks at the inventory, as if you were in our office. But no refunds for horn, shell, etc. [USFWS-governed] items; it just isn’t fair for someone to return this for simple buyer’s remorse given their now extreme exclusivity because of the outrageous USFWS muscle-flexing (note that you see no other vendors in North America offering these items!)
“Handmade in France”
Made by hand (and uniquely so), the Thiers-Issard brand is, in this one opinion, the most hollow ground and flexible razor left in production today. They’ve produced straight razors for nearly 100 years in Thiers, France, with traditional methods confined to this most special of nations.
‘188’ is the designation Thiers-Issard gives to their finest razors of all, which are hand selected for the very best exhibited concavity and then given their special mirror polish on both sides of the razor. With some exceptions, “188”s also feature anti-slip file jimps on both the bottom and the top of the razor’s tang, for the best possible grip. But it is the exceptional concavity that is the star here, as well as that they offer some unique handle materials and face designs only reserved for the “188” stock.
This version of the 188 is a 7/8″ model with their new “Roi Soleil” (‘Sun King’) trademark inlay upon the front of the razor. The handle is made in part from genuine abalone shell (pinctada maxima), they make a resin base and the shell is layed atop the basin for more thickness and stability. It isn’t a liner style scale, it is an actual shell stirred in with a neutral resin. They’re impossibly gorgeous. Pick the piece you like best from the images of our actual inventory!
“Shave Ready”?
If you elect for the factory edge, you’ll receive your razor exactly as its manufacturers intended…pretty simple!
If you elect for The Superior Shave to further hone your razor [add a ‘note to vendor’ at checkout, denoting such preference], your razor will be delivered to you Guaranteed Shave Ready! Observe this precise model of razor being honed by TSS here and here! The Superior Shave hones via a method best coined (by the old Thiers-Issard director) as “the opposite of tape“ where the hones’ geometries are catered to performance of the razor and to no other concern.
