Posted by David Sherman on Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 19:57:50 :
In Reply to: Re: I saw an auction last spring here posted by Mac From Texas on Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 13:55:46 :
Wow. I guess that's what a good auctioneer will do. I've seen them for sale in the few hundred dollar range. Not recently, but I haven't looked either. I think it's like with old trucks. To get a deal you have to find the old guy that's finally ready to pass it on to somebody he likes, or the kids cleaning out grandpa's "junk" who don't know what it's worth. There was a sale a bit like that here recently. Old guy is still alive, but he'd left a lot of stuff in a building his ex-wife got years ago when they divorced. She sold the building and wanted all the contents sold. She put high prices on all the "women's" stuff in the front of the sale -- assorted household gadgets, furniture, lamps, kitchen stuff, etc., and complained that the ladies selling that stuff for her were selling it too cheap, but the "guys" stuff in the back all sold for "no reasonable offer refused", and "reasonable" seemed to mean "more than zero". The only thing she thought was any good back there was an antique gas pump, that she wanted $1000 for. But all the car parts, electric motors, barrels of oil of various kinds, tools and tool parts, electrical stuff, tires, etc was pretty much a matter of "give us some green money and get it out of here". The most interesting thing found in the stash was a booster charge and some blasting caps. Naturally one of the guys selling the stuff grabbed that right away. I wouldn't be surprised if there was more, since the old guy used to be a dynamite dealer as well as an oil and coal dealer. No one-lungers, though, but I'll bet the old guy still has some stashed at his current place.
But once things get publicized, especially if it comes close to the "antique" category, forget it. Even at flea markets, I've learned that as soon as somebody calls some item they're selling a "piece", or they act offended if I ask them what it does, what it fits, or whether it works, then it's too expensive for me.
I think a good place to start if you want a one-lunger would be to get in with your local antique tractor or steam engine club. Not only will you find out what's for sale, but if you don't act like some slick antique dealer, they won't try to get an antique-dealer price out of you, and if you ever actually try to restore it, you'll need their help anyway. I usually go to the "ham fair" (antique/ham radio swap meet) and I've noticed that the old radios there sell for a small fraction of what they ask in the antique stores. Plus you get to talk to the old guy who had it, find out what he's already done to it, what he thinks it needs, who might have the missing parts, etc.
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