Relabeled Rooney Brushes

Patrick, does your Olde Apothecary Stubby model have the size number printed on the reverse, the way Rooney Stubbys do?

I agree with you. The one on the left is a Stubby model and the one on the right is a Series 1. Thanks for lending your expertise.

No problem at all. I feel it is more lending my obsession than anything as that's what it feels like.

I would agree with you in terms of the size. A size 3 on the left and a size 2 on the right. The band in the middle is what makes me think the left is the Stubby model, and the right one is the Series 1 model. Also the bottom parts have a subtle but noticeable difference. I can't choose one over the other and love them both. A comparison of three Rooney size 2 brushes I have: 1/2, Stubby 2, and 2XL.



Each brush gets progressively smaller in height, and the width varies. 

The 1/2 has a handle of 47.66mm, 38mm width at the Rooney label, and 53.4mm loft.
The Stubby 2 has a handle of 47mm, 37.79mm at the Rooney Label, and a loft of 47mm
The Stubby 2XL has a handle of 44.71mm, 38.16mm wide at the Rooney label, and a loft of 49.96mm.

While not huge number differences, you can see they do make a difference when lined up to each other with the Stubby looking the narrowest of the lot and a bit shorter.

Thanks for sharing a picture of the two of them pc4406! They're beautiful shaving brushes!

+1

Interesting pieces of brush history.  Thanks for sharing.

The Stubby and Series 1 handles represented

I stumbled across these photos this morning. The smaller of the two handles (a Style 1, Size 1) appears to me to have a Heritage-style label on its backside. When I bought it in late 2012 or early 2013 the seller (I'm sure without intending any misrepresentation) described it as a Stubby 1. I've always wondered whether it might have been labeled in that way by mistake.

I guess I have been confused about this all along. My understanding has been that the brushes known as 'Style 1,' 'Style 2,' etc. did not have the number itself on them, while the other 'non-Style' brushes, such as the Stubby, Emillion, and so on, did have the Arabic numeral on the handle. So I too would have called the brush on the left a Stubby 1.

I guess I have been confused about this all along. My understanding has been that the brushes known as 'Style 1,' 'Style 2,' etc. did not have the number itself on them, while the other 'non-Style' brushes, such as the Stubby, Emillion, and so on, did have the Arabic numeral on the handle. So I too would have called the brush on the left a Stubby 1.

I'm sure that's why the guy I bought the smaller brush from (my first with an Old Rooney Finest knot) said it was a Stubby. As I recall, it showed up in multiple posts on B&B desrcibed as a Stubby. It wasn't until sometime later that I sorted out the Style 1, Style 2, and Style 3 nomenclature for myself. But for a long time now I would confidently say the brush on the left is a Style 1, Size 1 and the one on the right a Style 1 Size 2 (notwithstanding that the smaller one has a Stubby-style backside label and the larger one is not labeled as a Rooney).

Rooney brushes can be as infuriating as they are wonderful trying to keep it all straight. I only have experience with reading (April 2009+) and owning them (June 2009+). I haven't seen a brush outside the Heritage range with numbers up to now. I just doubled checked all my pictures I could find of former Rooney brushes I have owned, and took inventory of what I own, and sure enough, nothing outside of Heritage brushes have any numbers on them. The funny part is I swear I have memories of the Series handles having numbers, however. I think it is an internal mechanism to shorten remembering and associating the correct size and model for quick reference, and overtime, the memory crept in that even the non-heritages had them. Perhaps it is a simple case that the brush had a label problem, and the owner managed to get it back to Lee for him to reapply the label? I just happened upon a post of your Urn 2 in Finest John on SMF and maybe this happened here? Maybe even a simple case of just misapplying? It's funny as that is the same text size and all you would see on a Heritage brush. That's another thing I know nothing about is the Olde Apothecary Shop brushes. I seems to recall seeing fleeting bits of information, but nothing I recall at the moment.

What gave me the impression I have had that only the 'special' groups (Stubbys, Emillions, Polo/Urns, Beehives, etc.) had printed numbers, while none of the Style 1, 2,  and 3 had them, is that none of my Style 2 or 3 brushes do. Here are some images of a Style 2 Size 1, a Style 3 Size 1, a Style 3 Size 2, and a Style 3 Size 3, none of which have printed numbers.


And here are an Emillion 1, a Polo 2, a Stubby 3XL, and a Stubby 3XXL, all with numbers.


So from that I deduced, incorrectly according some who know more than I do about brushes, that the Style 1 Size 1 brush would not  have a printed number while the Stubby 1 would have it.

Rooney brushes can be as infuriating as they are wonderful trying to keep it all straight. I only have experience with reading (April 2009+) and owning them (June 2009+). I haven't seen a brush outside the Heritage range with numbers up to now. I just doubled checked all my pictures I could find of former Rooney brushes I have owned, and took inventory of what I own, and sure enough, nothing outside of Heritage brushes have any numbers on them. The funny part is I swear I have memories of the Series handles having numbers, however. I think it is an internal mechanism to shorten remembering and associating the correct size and model for quick reference, and overtime, the memory crept in that even the non-heritages had them. Perhaps it is a simple case that the brush had a label problem, and the owner managed to get it back to Lee for him to reapply the label? I just happened upon a post of your Urn 2 in Finest John on SMF and maybe this happened here? Maybe even a simple case of just misapplying? It's funny as that is the same text size and all you would see on a Heritage brush. That's another thing I know nothing about is the Olde Apothecary Shop brushes. I seems to recall seeing fleeting bits of information, but nothing I recall at the moment.

Who knows!? Someone might have asked for a Style 1 Size 1 with a Finest knot and so the handle got a Heritage label, or maybe the original buyer made a special request for that knot and label.

Or it could have resulted from Lee would call a "mix up". That happened with the first Chief handles we made and sent over to Lee for knots. Some of them ended up being labeled as M&Fs, with Lee attributed to a mix up that had something to do with a wrong basket or a basket getting tipped over or something like that.

With regard to the Olde Apothecary Shop brushes, I once asked Lee about them on a call that I'm sure was in early 2013 when we were putting together the M&F group buy on B&B. He didn't respond with much information or with what I took as a very definite memory, but I'm pretty sure he said mine probably dated to 2006. That's getting a bit fuzzy in my own memory, though.