Gillette Super Stainless/Spoiler Timeline
Over the course of the last few years I have collected over 700 Gillette Super Stainless/Spoiler razor blades - enough to last me over 10 years. I've found these blades to be some of the best out there and I'm intrigued by their legendary status and loyal following among many DE enthusiasts. As my collection has grown, I've noticed how the blades and packaging have changed. I thought it would be useful to create a dating guide. Fortunately, Gillette made this a bit easier by having the foresight to put date codes on its blades, as well as its razors. Of course, this only helps if the packs have been opened. Hopefully this guide will help some of you to identify the year, or range of years your blade was produced without having to open your sealed packages.
This listing is in no way finished and I welcome the assistance of others in making sure the data here are as correct and complete as possible. I've included photos of the blades I own, as well as some photos I found on www.mr-razor.com. I would also like to add a little history around the blades, but haven't had much luck finding information that I can verify. If you have further insight into these blades, or have photos from years I'm missing, please feel free to comment below, or email me at harvey60@gmail.com. I will be happy to update this document with your information and give you appropriate credit.
1960s
1965 K shows no sign of the Spoiler brand, but are reported to be an earlier version of the same great blades that were branded "Spoiler" in 1971.
1967 M case and blade appear unchanged.
In 1968 N or 1969 O (shown below) the case was modified with "Super Stainless Steel" moved from below the window to either side of the window. The number of blades was listed below the window. Patent #2544410 is removed from the blade.
1970s
1970 P case and blade appear unchanged
1971 R is the year the Spoiler brand was launched, with several different case versions, depending on the quarter the blades were manufactured. As you can see from the photo below, the R1 and R4 cases look quite different. At some time after the first quarter, Gillette added the "Spoiler" logo to the right side of the case window.
This apparently was not the "Spoiler" logo's first appearance. As you can see from the photo below, the "Spoiler" logo was used on external packaging (see top right package) prior to being added to the case. This likely happened some time in 1971 before the fourth quarter.
The packaging remained the same in 1972 S
In 1973 T or 1974 U (shown below), the black background at the top of the case was changed to white, the Gillette name at the top was smaller and in a different different font, the number of blades was moved to the bottom edge, and "Super Stainless" was moved from the left side to below the window. The case and blades remained unchanged though 1976 W.
Source: Mr. Razor Website
http://www.mr-razor.com/Rasierklingen/Rasierklingen.htm
In 1977 X a second patent #3518110 was added to the blade and the space between the year and quarter codes was increased. The blades and case remained unchanged through 1982 C, which is the last production year I could identify.
1980's
