Price of hand planes?

[Waldo]

G'day,

I don't know if I am a hard nosed blizzard, but is eBay pushing up the prices of hand planes to a level that is unreasonable and beyond value? I mean I'd like to buy some planes, but it seems to me that the above is the case.

Are collectors jacking up prices out of sinc with the actual worth of the plane to the detriment of those who want to aquire them for daily use?

Instead I look out for garage sales etc. in the hope of finding some planes as I've done in the past.

[MajorPanic]

Waldo,

This will always be the case. Anything collectable will have a user component & a collector following.

Now have a look around Oz, there are NO Stanley #8C's for sale at the moment. If ya want one ya gotta go overseas.
Demand will set the eventual price & there is NOTHING you can do about it.

[Max Ripper]

http://roseantiquetools.com/store/product0.html


Max Ripper Cheap enough I think

[Waldo]

G'day,

Since I forgot to check to make the votes public, and if you're up to it can you also post your "yay" or "nay" as a thread too? I'd just like to see who supports what - if that's OK?

[Shedhand]

I don't care what others pay. I pay what I think its worth to me. If I pay less on eBay than a modern crap hardware shop plane costs then I think I've got a bargain. I'm not a collector or a reseller (maybe sell off any that I don't need tho) I like the old stuff because I like to imagine it has a little of the soul of the previous owner.
For instance all the hand tools and stuff I collected off my father today were his father's and I'm pretty certain at least 2 of the tools were my great-grandfather's (he was a mining engineer and carpenter as was my grandfather except he made fine cabinet work).
I remember sitting in my old grandad's shed (built in 1929 with its 6" x 2" Huon pine floor) when I was a little tacker and he wasn't crippled by arthritis. He would spend hours explaining what each tool was for as he made a sideboard or made a piece of machinery he needed rather than buy it. His tools (the ones his 2 pi$$pot son's didn't sell for cheap plonk) have soul and to me are priceless.
So the short answer to your question Waldo is ...no..the tools are worth what someone is willing to pay.
Cheers

[Shedhand]

http://roseantiquetools.com/store/product0.html


Max Ripper Cheap enough I think

They must be kidding or its made of platinum.:eek:

[TassieKiwi]

It's the market, stupid.

I think that they are steadily creeping up, like anything old, well made, sought after and limited in numbers. As to the #8C - I won one on ebay recently (US) - including postage under $A200. The #1's often sell for over $2500. No-one seems to use them, they just want'em.

[Harry72]

I voted no, as its you as a collector who dictates the price in the long run... just ask any car collector who has a passion for early aussie muscle cars!

[Clinton1]

I votes Yes, they are too expensive: only cause I want to buy stuff cheap.

Whoever wants to pay the $ will set the price. Collectors and users have no bearing on it... just whoever has got the bucks. Hope the bum falls out of the collector market though, then I'll get some bargains.

[Greg Q]

I sometimes sell planes on ebay, so I am of two minds. I never seem to get crazy bidders having a pissing contest over my stuff like I seem to see on items that I want to buy. I never have enough time anymore to go to markets or garage sales, so ebay ends up being where I shop for this stuff.

Greg

[DanP]

I always thought the prices on Ebay were pretty good. Look at Hans Brunners site and you'll see that the average price of a user plane is a lot higher than on Ebay.

Dan

[pianoman]

I voted yes, because I'm a bit of a bottom feeder (will only pay the lowest price possible) . However as many have noted the prices are set by the market . Collectors mostly are the ones who force the price up, because, as TassiKiwi said. "They just want em" and there is nothing you can do about that.
I don't want to tip the bucket on all collectors, there is no doubt that some collectors genuinely cherish and preserve the tools they collect and as such maintain a legacy of "reference" tools for future generations to admire and perhaps copy and reproduce, thus keeping alive or re-awakening skills that may be lost.
The problem is the speculative collectors and to a certain extent dealers buying up stock and inflating the prices in the hope of a profit, very annoying to users !!
The good news is these things go in trends, and as Clinton1 hopes the bottom will drop out of the market. Look at the collectable sports car market in the late 80s prices went up by as much as 500% and by the early 90s were back down again to the original levels or cheaper. Of course really special examples hold their price, but Spears gunmetal planes were expensive even when they first came out. The user quality stuff will go back down in price eventually, and we will still be there, we just need patience.

[TassieKiwi]

You could chance your luck at a real auction.......

http://www.hansbrunnertools.gil.com.au/Auction.htm

[jaspr]

"Is the price paid for h/planes on EBay overinflated?"

The "price asked" can be too high, but the "price paid" can't be.

It's worth whatever someone will pay for it. People just value things differently.

[LineLefty]

You might say its the market but, its a not a traditional market.

The reason eBay is forcing up prices is that its pushing the market towards perfect competition.

If you were trying to sell yuo 8C ten years ago, how big was your market? The paper? The antique shop? Magazine classifieds? You were realyl restricted to one city. This tends to keep prices down because the 8C will sit in the antique shop for months.

Now, that 8C is available to people all over the world so the price reflects the real underlying demand for such a rare product.

Its a bit of a paradox, but we were so used to the "distorted" market and now that its approached a perfetly competitive market we see it as beeign distorted when in actual fact, its the complete opposite.

An 8C is a rare, valuable tool. It shouldnt be worth 10bucks at a garage sale.
I bought wonderful Ibbotson Dovetail saw for 50c ata garge sale on the weekend. Was that its value? No. If it was on eBay it would have gone for 20times that amount.