Just got back from Hampton Beach NH, I dragged the wife through 3 train shops while there[about 1 hr per store] so I let her take me antiquing. In one place I saw a scout engine with a cracked shell marked very rare, $350.00! In another place a box of rusty O-27 track for $125.00 I did pass on both[:O] The sad part is someone who dosen’t know better may buy them.
The other “sad part” is all the people who see these, and assume the rusty junk in their attic is worth these big bucks. I go to many flea markets and antique shops, and have been AMAZED at the prices being asked for this rusty/broken stuff. Joe
The other sad part to this story is that it happens in all parts of the country. There is an antique shop in Jupiter FL and they have some older Lionel trains for sale but at twice the Greenberg Price Guide prices, I have seen these trains for sale for over a year, some people just look at these trains because of the prices. The antique shop is near My Rose Hobbies in Jupiter FL on Indiantown Road.
Lee F.
Lots of antique stores in a little village just north of us - I’ve gotten in some conversations with the proprietors - along the lines of ‘you know, this broken Scout engine and rusty 027 track oval really isn’t worth $600’ but their response besides counter-offering $575 is they can sell them at that price. I’m amazed. The railroadiana I uncover - usually paper - is pretty inexpensive though.
Doug,
That guy you describe sounds like he can sell freezers to Eskimos, just trying to say he is a real slick salesman if he can get $600.00 for some beat-up trains.
Lee F.
I’ve only had one reasonalbly good train purchase at an antique store. It was an unremarkable, play-worn Marx 6" tin NYC caboose that I paid $5 for - about what you’d pay on Ebay. Unfortunately, it was the only train item in the store.
Antique stores are not train stores, nor are they looking for train people. A lot of interior decorators and laymen use these stores for home decor. What is a simple scout engine to You and I is a quaint, collectible from the past sitting on the mantle in someone’s study or den. Most of these people don’t really care about the real value, but the decorating aspect of it. I was a little amazed by this, but after talking to a dealer who had a few items in his booth, I believe him. I once saw an interior decorator walking through the antique store purchasing all kinds of strange things. She was carrying a clipboard which I assume contained the items She had recommended, and the estimate She had given the customer. She was absolutely not concerned with price! Lots of different markets for the same item if you use a little imagination…
Well, I have had a great deal of experience with antique stores and it seems that there is a great variety in the prices these places charge.
Location can sometimes play a part: emphasis on “sometimes”. Antique dealers in places that are frequented by lots of tourists are more likely to have higher prices, just as with any other kind of retailer in such a place. A number of years ago, when I was just getting started in O gauge, I bought a boxed Marx set for $70 at an antique dealer here in Regina, Saskatchewan. When I did, he said, “That’s good price on a set like that. Of course, in New York, you could get $200, but you could never get that kind of money out here.” That statement may sound logical, but, I have encountered other dealers in the city and even in small little prairie towns that charge exorbitant prices.
I can name numerous places where I have seen rip-off prices. Take the store that had sloppily repainted HO cars, many with parts missing, for $20 each which sat for years and years. Then, there’s the place with a badly melted Lionel 1060 and tender with rusty O27 track for $100. I can name other examples, but why bother? I think we’ve all encountered simmilar rip-offs.
Don’t dismiss antique dealers as a whole, though. I’ve found great deals at quite a few. Once when visiting Winnipeg, I went to an antique store that had three Marx sets: a B&O diesel set with 3/16" cars with large trucks (just the train, no track) for only $50, a boxed 7-inch SP diesel set for $95 and a 4-wheel plastic set with a 490 steamer (no box) for $65. Naturally, I didn’t have to think twice about the B&O set! The other two trains were reasonably priced, but I had almost everything in both of them. The dealer wondered if I would be interested in buying them as well. I told him that I wasn’t sure as they weren’t anything I really needed. He then said, "Give me another 80
I am not against antique shops, some times you can get a good deal there, just some of thier prices are too high.
Have gotten better deals at yard sales. At one yard sale I bought an H.O. race car set for $20.00 and sold it two weeks later on ebay for $210.00. You need to know what something is worth and is there a market for it.
Lee F.
I’ve never seen a good deal on trains at an antique store. Ever.
Jim
I bought my ZW at a antique shop. The owner had it marked at $325. I told him that a reconditioned ZW might bring that kind of money but the one he had needed work. The cord was shot, one of the handles didnt move well,etc. I offered him $200, and he took it. A new cord and a little cleaning and it worked great. That was ten yrs. ago and now it could use some new rollers. You never know. I think the guy figured heres an easy $200 on something that he paid very little for.
But yes I have seen some crazy prices at antique shops for trains that are really junk.