Messages

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: 175 Year old slate

« on: May 06, 2007, 11:48:01 am »

I doubt their origin would add much value to the slate, they are after all just slate roof tiles and these can be bought new as well as used.
I just can't visualise anyone placing an extra value on these plain flat pieces of slate just because they came from the such and such church, it would be way different if they were stone carvings from the wall, bronze, stained glass, tower bells, copper finials or carved wood, but they are just flat pieces of ordinary stone slate roofing.

Try here, maybe one of the slate roof restoration firms would be interested inbuying them, but this stuff is very heavy, easy to break and costs a fortune to ship so who knows;

http://www.jenkinsslate.com/usedslate.htm

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Jensen Steam Engine #35 Transition Piece 1937

« on: March 26, 2007, 10:14:20 pm »

I have one in great condition, and according to Jensen's website, this is one of the rarest Steam Engine's they have ever made.    There is a damaged one on Ebay (the exact one) that is selling for 51 dollars, but with a lot of bids so I imagine is it underpriced.

It may be rare but personally I never cared for their steam engines, they always seemed to be cheeply made sheet metal, but I guess being sold for the toy market this is to be expected. Their current line just looks like  Chinese junk, I much prefer the real steam engine models and even the popcorn machine steam engines were made of heavy cast bronze and did work, I have one from the UK.

I don't think that damaged toy on ebay was underpriced, you find very few real bargains on Ebay these days- too many dealers and collectors know all the keywords to search for and get auto-emails too, if there were a bunch of bids that shows it was probably only worth $51 it sold for, damage really reduces value, especially if it's missing parts that can't be replaced.

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Whats this water heater worth? Please help!

« on: March 26, 2007, 05:30:56 pm »

patent pending or patent applied fore. indicates it's one to 3 years, from patent approved.

It depends, I've seen patent take ten years, maybe it was contested or held up by lawsuits. In this water heater's case the author said "The last patent date is 1917,"

Which means the design may be older but that actual appliance in question with the date stamped in the iron or engraved on a plate was made 1917 or later and could have been made in the late 20's or even into the 30's or later before the manufacturer discontinued the model, sold out, merged or went out of business. You wouldn't find the appliance being made in 1910 with a FUTURE date like patented 1917 stamped on it, and those made during the approval process would say "Pat applied for" or pending.

The last patent date only indicates the last time that model/design was altered in a major way, patents cost a lot of money and take a lot of time, and for a simple nothing of utility appliance like a gas water heater- basically a tank of water and a flame this is just not something that's so innovative or high tech it needed protection done on it every couple of years like the telephone did or computer software.
In my line of work a certain wood  part with a lead tip on it for wood organ pipes is made by several companies, the part was patented around 1901, and even the new ones made today by one company still carry that patent date stamped on them, so there again is an example where the patent probably long expired but they still put it on more for nostalgia than lawsuit probability since the part is so easy to fabricate a hollow wood tube with a rounded lead tip on one end nailed on, and several companies do.

As far as the water heater goes, I saw at least two yesterday on Ebay, one has a starting price of $9.95, I doubt these are in any way rare if the one time I look on Ebay there are two, but like all these larger items it's local
pick up only or pay $$ for crating and shipping.

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Whats this water heater worth? Please help!

« on: March 26, 2007, 07:50:34 am »

I would like to know the approximate value of an antique water heater from the Pittsburg Water Heater Co. The last patent date is 1917,

Patent dates don't mean much, it only means 1917 was the last time they added a patent to that water heater model, it could have been in production for many years afterwards. The only sure thing you know is it is not older than 1917

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EBay Forum / Re: If I can't sell it on eBay where then?

« on: March 16, 2007, 08:44:32 am »

the fact is that everyone is going to be effected by ebay pushing up their prices. Instead of having your margins pushed, I would see it more as having your cost of sales put up. Everyone is in the same boat here and we can all still make money on ebay.

I have a friend who was selling $5,000 a week worth of musical instruments a week on Ebay, then some jerk came along and was giving my friend some hassle over the price or something related to he wanted it shipped overnight at no extra cost I forget what, anyway, my friend declined his sale, refunded his money from PayPal and about 3 days later his account on Paypal was frozen with about $2,000 cash in it and no explanation. He was a powerseller with 99. something pos feedbacks and a member since 2001, Paypal which is owned by Ebay refused to tell him why they froze his account and claimed it was "something on your credit report"

His calls to Paypal were fruitless, they said he could not appeal and they would not reinstate his account, so that started a downward spiral where his customers expecting their merchandise were refunded by Paypal and were angry they didn't get their items and left negative feedbacks- about 10-12 all in a week due to that.
Then Ebay shut his account off and it now shows "No longer a registered member"
Naturally my friend is extremely upset, his business has been literally destroyed by Ebay and now he has been forced to sell of things to live on while scrambling to put up alternatives sales venues- web site etc which will takes months to get sales from.

So the warning is DO NOT EVER put all your sales on Ebay because like so many others this sort of thing has hapened to- one complaint there or Paypal can get your account terminated without warning. See paypalsucks.com too while you are at it.
My friend calculated that with t he Ebay fees for listing 70-80 items at a time, the final value fees, the PayPal fees etc he was paying out close to 30% and really was not making much money at all.
He, like myself enjoyed Ebay's spendid email around Xmas time that said (despite record profits I might add);

 "Happy Holidays! Happy New Years!" oh, by the way, after much thought we are RAISING fees, again, Happy New Year!"

Yep, Happy New Years to us!

try ziing.com and blujay.com   ziing was started as a free alternative to Ebay started by former Ebay users.

An antique dealer was in the news for shill bids on his items, he was ripping people left and right that way brazenly till a reporter exposed him, when he was caught he claimed Ebay would do nothing because he was a power seller and brought them tens of thousands of dollars a week... they closed his account, probably only because it was in the news and made Ebay look bad.

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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Jensen Steam Engine #35 Transition Piece 1937

« on: January 19, 2007, 07:54:50 pm »

Probably the old ones are nice, the newer ones are pure junk- thin sheet metal,  the cylinder of the engine is little more than a pipe with a sheet metal shrowd over it- really just a childs toy.
The best engines are those made by Stuart and others, they are not toys but scale models made of cast iron, bronze and heavy quality.

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EBay Forum / Re: If I can't sell it on eBay where then?

« on: January 19, 2007, 07:40:39 pm »

I'd be REAL careful about goantiques, there is a huge thread on the Ebay forums about  them and not one post there is in any way flattering. After reading there I CANCELLED my bid on a live auction by them.

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Antique Questions Forum / Cast-iron eagle wanted

« on: May 08, 2004, 09:08:44 pm »

Hi,
I found one.