March Gloat-I suck bad

[Tim Atkins]

Last month was banner month for tool picking. I have enough cleaning projects for the rest of the year. I would post everything but, But excessive gloating is bad JuJu. The top prize is something that I think is too special. It is what I believe is a Victor Rabbet fillister. I lightly cleaned it and just stared at it trying to decide what to do with it.


192467

[Jim Koepke]

Tim,

Welcome to the Creek and one nice gloat to boot.

I have no idea of the value other than it can be a useful plane in the shop.

Times with tools to use and no money are better than times with money and no tools to use.

For me, if I were to sell it, the money would get spent and then I wouldn't have either.

jtk

[Tim Atkins]

The only reference to price was one on the creek. If is worth near what they said, I don't want it in my shop. It has all ready taken too much shop time, trying to figure out what to do with it.



http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?122214-Victor-Bench-Rabbet-Plane

[Mark Baldwin III]

The only reference to price was one on the creek. If is worth near what they said, I don't want it in my shop. It has all ready taken too much shop time, trying to figure out what to do with it.



http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?122214-Victor-Bench-Rabbet-Plane

Send it to me, I'll keep an eye on it for ya ;) I wonder if The Best Things may be able to help you figure out what it's worth.

[Joshua Clark]

Tim-

That is one nice plane you found. As you suspected, it is a Bailey Victor combined smooth, rabbet, and fillister. It is either a No. 11 or 11 1/2- the 11 1/2 had nickel trim while the 11 was japanned. It's hard to tell if yours had nickel. It was made between 1877-1888. It looks like yours is missing two pieces- the fence and depth stop. These are frequently missing and impossible to find. This will have an affect on value, of course, but it is still a valuable plane. I can tell you that Walter's guide gives a value of $500-1500 for a plane in this condition, but his prices are notoriously out of date. I tried to find a recent auction sale but didn't find anything in the catalogs I have.

If you want to sell it you can go several routes- eBay and do it yourself. There are obvious benefits and downsides to that.. You could consign it to a well-known tool dealer and have them sell it for you. You would probably pay less of a commission that way but there is no guarantee it will sell. You can also consign it to a tool auctioneer and have them sell it in a public auction. You will probably pay the most in commission that way but it will be sure to get the most exposure. You may have to wait a long time for it to come to auction though.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do with it. Again, nice find!

Josh

[Keith Outten]

Tool sales belong in our Classified Forum gentlemen.
.

[David Keller NC]

Tim - That is indeed a valuable plane, though you will not be able to buy a new car with it. Those sorts of valuations are typical of the earliest of Leonard Bailey's work when he was based in Boston and before he was bought out by Stanley. What you have is an example of Leonard's second effort to go it alone - before he was bought out by Stanley the 2nd time.

Regarding value - it appears that your plane has metal back tote. One of two possibilities occur here - either it's original (and very, very uncommon), or it was a replacement aluminum tote that Stanley made for their planes in the 1930's and 1940s.

Regardless, and assuming you wish to sell it to a collector or dealer - do not clean it in any way. A bit of dusting off is OK, but many, many non-collector folks have lost most of the value of a prize they've found at a garage sale in an attempt to "improve" it. Were it mine, I would sell it at one of the big tool auctions like Brown or Martin J Donnely's Live Free or Die. The difficulty with fleabay is that most well-heeled tool collectors that will pay a lot for a tool want to pick it up and closely examine it, and since that's not possible on fleabay, values are somewhat depressed compared to a hands-on major auction.

[Deane Allinson]

you suck bad indeed. Nice plane. If you are a collector, keep it. If you are a user, sell it. Buy some nice wood.
Deane

[Tim Atkins]

I appreciate everyones suggestion on relocating the plane. The suggestion and insight was exactly what I wanted. I had no intention on selling this plane here or on the bay. I have some more interesting items during my March picks that I need some insight on.

Tim

[Mel Miller]

Your plane appears to be a #11, no sign of nickel plating.
The iron handle is correct, nearly all Victor planes had iron handles. Rosewood handles (not knobs) were an option, but very few people bought them.
As has been already said, you're missing the most valuable parts, the depth stop and fence, and they are impossible to find, so your value is around a few hundred dollars. Walters was too high when he gave that value, and it's still too high today.
2 common weak points on the Victor planes are the adjuster, and the thin slot in the sides where the lever cap slides in. These can be cracked from overtightening and hard to see.

Mel