rivett608
Diamond
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2002
- Location
- Kansas City, Mo.
I am working on an inventory of my collection which is a major task that I have been putting off for decades. Amazingly I kept records of my purchases going back nearly 40 years.
I’m curious what you all think these historic pieces are worth today? I’m not talking about just average old stuff but rare (only a few known to exist), historic (like the earliest micrometer or vernier caliper) or just plain cool looking some strange patented surface gage that never became popular.
The market place for these things has always been driven by a handful of collectors who will pay $100s or even $1000s for a single piece. What is the market today? My collecting has gone in different directions the past bunch of years so I don’t follow it much like I used to.
I’m interested more as curiosity, not because I plan on selling. Arrangements have been made for the collection with museums. To me the cost of the items has never been the driving factor in buying them. I often say I buy on average, some days I pay way too much, somedays I get things cheap. In the end I have a very complete collection. Surprisingly most I bought really cheap because years ago no one knew what this stuff was, like an 1877 B & S 1” mic for $10.
What brought this up was I just recorded about 70 surface gages, I did a check on eBay both current and past sales and of the 70 only 6 of the most common ones showed up. This stuff has always been pretty scarce, now it seems nearly impossible to find. But when it is found, does it bring in high dollars? I see every now and then good micrometers do very well, how about other tools?
Look forward to your thoughts.
I’m curious what you all think these historic pieces are worth today? I’m not talking about just average old stuff but rare (only a few known to exist), historic (like the earliest micrometer or vernier caliper) or just plain cool looking some strange patented surface gage that never became popular.
The market place for these things has always been driven by a handful of collectors who will pay $100s or even $1000s for a single piece. What is the market today? My collecting has gone in different directions the past bunch of years so I don’t follow it much like I used to.
I’m interested more as curiosity, not because I plan on selling. Arrangements have been made for the collection with museums. To me the cost of the items has never been the driving factor in buying them. I often say I buy on average, some days I pay way too much, somedays I get things cheap. In the end I have a very complete collection. Surprisingly most I bought really cheap because years ago no one knew what this stuff was, like an 1877 B & S 1” mic for $10.
What brought this up was I just recorded about 70 surface gages, I did a check on eBay both current and past sales and of the 70 only 6 of the most common ones showed up. This stuff has always been pretty scarce, now it seems nearly impossible to find. But when it is found, does it bring in high dollars? I see every now and then good micrometers do very well, how about other tools?
Look forward to your thoughts.