Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2015 7:25:35 GMT -5
I love the antique shops that treat all "old toy trains" as priceless collector's items. Apparently they believe that the unlimited funds, foam flecked "collector" (you know, like Micro-Ben would be if he were a millionaire) is going to darken their dingy doors any minute.
So I stop by this little antiques shop last night. Nice little spot, overwhelming odor of dust and mildew, but what can ya do... Off to one of the corners, there's a small plastic tote with some brass HO track and a Tyco Old Dutch CenterFlow hopper. Worth another look, so I start digging.
Well, in the tote there was the aforementioned Center Flow. There was also:
-Tyco Baby Ruth wood reefer
-Tyco Armour wood reefer
-Lima CN caboose
-Rivarossi B&O old time slopeback tender, likely from an 0-4-0
-Lima slopeback tender in ATSF
-Tyco Canadiana box
-Lima CN box
-Lima NYC reefer
-Tyco Chattanooga GP20 with an empty PowerTorque front truck. No rails.
-Assortment of crappy condition brass track
-Bachmann power pack
Most of the cars were missing wheelsets and the tenders were missing one truck each.
So I ask the lady at the counter what the price is.
"All those trains? They're a hundred dollars. They're probably fifty years old".
I replied that for $100 they could stay right there in that box.
I was told that "it runs". The said that I'd bet my car that it didn't because the only locomotive in the box had no motor. She asked me what I thought it all was worth. I said that fair market value for everything, once cleaned up and readied for sale, was maybe $25, and as-is, I'd offer $15. No more than that. Oh, and all this stuff dates back to the late 70's at most, and is nowhere near " rare". Five minutes of EBay digging would likely turn up three examples of every item in the box.
Of course I got the "valuable collector's item" rhetoric. I said that if that monied collector walks into this shop, he'd offer the same thing.
Man, some people. "Those trains must be worth a fortune!" is something we've all heard.
So I stop by this little antiques shop last night. Nice little spot, overwhelming odor of dust and mildew, but what can ya do... Off to one of the corners, there's a small plastic tote with some brass HO track and a Tyco Old Dutch CenterFlow hopper. Worth another look, so I start digging.
Well, in the tote there was the aforementioned Center Flow. There was also:
-Tyco Baby Ruth wood reefer
-Tyco Armour wood reefer
-Lima CN caboose
-Rivarossi B&O old time slopeback tender, likely from an 0-4-0
-Lima slopeback tender in ATSF
-Tyco Canadiana box
-Lima CN box
-Lima NYC reefer
-Tyco Chattanooga GP20 with an empty PowerTorque front truck. No rails.
-Assortment of crappy condition brass track
-Bachmann power pack
Most of the cars were missing wheelsets and the tenders were missing one truck each.
So I ask the lady at the counter what the price is.
"All those trains? They're a hundred dollars. They're probably fifty years old".
I replied that for $100 they could stay right there in that box.
I was told that "it runs". The said that I'd bet my car that it didn't because the only locomotive in the box had no motor. She asked me what I thought it all was worth. I said that fair market value for everything, once cleaned up and readied for sale, was maybe $25, and as-is, I'd offer $15. No more than that. Oh, and all this stuff dates back to the late 70's at most, and is nowhere near " rare". Five minutes of EBay digging would likely turn up three examples of every item in the box.
Of course I got the "valuable collector's item" rhetoric. I said that if that monied collector walks into this shop, he'd offer the same thing.
Man, some people. "Those trains must be worth a fortune!" is something we've all heard.
