Help Needed--Pricing Hand Tools / Planes

[Noah Barfield]

Hi all,

A friend of mine is an antiques dealer. She let me know that she recently bought a couple of boxes of planes and I offered to come over and help her sort through them and price them. There were a few items, however, that I'd like to get your opinion on.

1) Stanley Bedrock 604-C. Overall, this is in nice shape. However, my two biggest concerns are the hanger hole someone drilled in the rear of the sole at one point and the fact that the tote is cracked all the way through at the bottom. Given these two flaws, what would you price this smoothing plane at?
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2) Stanley 113 Compass Plane. This looks to be in great condition. Minor surface rust. All the parts are moving freely and present. The nickle plating is at 98-99%. I just have zero experience with this particular plane. What would you price it at?
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3) Disston Saw Vise. This is one of the coolest saw vises I've ever seen. It has a guide for the sharpening file along with an indexed gauge for setting the teeth at the correct angle. If I was still collecting, I would have made her an offer. Sorry for the bad photo--I was trying to hold the vise and shoot at the same time. What should she price this at?
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4) Finally, she had an entire box of German wooden planes--some for molding, some block planes. Almost all had this distinctive knob or "horn." This convex plane was the coolest of the lot. Any info about this type of plane? What about pricing?

My friend has a show coming up in a couple of weeks, so any help that you could provide would be greatly appreciated by her (and me too)!

Thanks,

Noah

[Keith Miguel]

One way to get a feel for what certain items are going for is to do an advanced search on ebay, under completed listing.

[Jim Koepke]

The round top Bedrocks are not as desirable as the flat topped Bedrocks. My recollection is that the lever cap is from a later type. It would likely sell fast at $25 and eventually at $40-50.

The saw vice is a bit more difficult to price. Often they can be found cheap, but if it has all the bells & whistles without problems, it could bring in good money.

Is there a model number on it?

In the completed listings on ebay, one recently went for $210.00. The model number makes a difference. Some are sold for less than $30.

The wooden plane looks like one a chair maker would use. No idea on pricing, probably more than I can afford.

The #113, if it has all the correct parts could sell in the $80 - $200 range according to the recent completed listings. So often the lever cap and/or the chip breaker on these have been swapped out with one from a #3. They won't work well with the wrong chip breaker. The right lever cap is also helpful. The plane is a bit tricky to get working when it is all correct.

It all depends on who's buying at the time and condition.

jtk

[Noah Barfield]

Thanks Jim and Keith--this is a helpful start! I'll be sure to forward this along to my friend.

Noah

[Al Weber]

I'm not sure I would take ebay prices as terribly valid as it is not possible in many cases to accurately judge condition of a tool. I use the Fine Tool Journal pricing as most valuable as historically they have a lot of tools listed and their condition guide gives a pretty fair idea of the tool. They have recently changed owners however so there is something of a questions there but I'm assuming that won't change their philosophy much.

[Noah Barfield]

Thanks Al. Is the Fine Tool Journal available via subscription, on-line, or through a book store?

edit: never mind, I found it.

Noah

[Noah Barfield]

Any leads on the German wooden plane?

[Jim Koepke]

I can think of a few pricing options:

What I could pay for it without telling my wife.

What I could afford to pay for it after telling my wife.

What I would pay for it if I just came into some spare cash.

It looks to be a specialty plane. It could be from a source that is coveted by collectors. Then it could be much more valuable.

If it works well at its specific purpose, then it could also garner interest among users.

At $20, it is something that I might take a chance at getting to work and then finding projects to use it.

If it works well, someone looking for such a plane to use might go $50 or more.

A quick search > wooden compass plane < shows a kit for #79.99 at Woodcraft.

The problem with retail on such items is once it is sold, it is gone. Not only does the price have to be set to insure a profit so the seller can pay the costs of staying in business, but the original investment has to be recovered to reinvest.

Another thing to consider is it is always easier to lower a price if someone is interested in purchasing. It is darn near impossible to raise the price when someone shows interest.

Please note, the prices above are just guesses, except for the kit, and have nothing to do with what the actual market may be.

jtk

[Matthew N. Masail]

about the wooden planes, It's just a thought, I have no idea what they are worth as antiques, but if they are in good using condition pricing could be based on that. if the blade is in good shape, the sole is flat and the wedge fits well I
would imagine they are worth a decent price. small things that any woodworker can do on his own but I think they make a big difference in price when buying an old plane.

[Zach Dillinger]

Any leads on the German wooden plane?

Any other pics of the wooden planes? Are they obviously a true set, or just mix and match? That would make a big difference on price to most guys, myself included.

[Noah Barfield]

Hi all,

Thanks for the follow up. The wooden planes are part of a set. I'll try to get photos up soon (I'm about to head out to two wood turning symposiums back to back and won't be back until Sunday evening).

Noah

[Mel Miller]

I'm not sure I would take ebay prices as terribly valid as it is not possible in many cases to accurately judge condition of a tool. I use the Fine Tool Journal pricing as most valuable as historically they have a lot of tools listed and their condition guide gives a pretty fair idea of the tool. They have recently changed owners however so there is something of a questions there but I'm assuming that won't change their philosophy much.

My experience has been that Ebay prices are the most valid reference available unless the item is so rare they seldom show up on Ebay. That isn't the case here with the 113 and 604 as there are many listed. You can search Ebay completed listings for free, and you would have to pay for the information from FTJ which doesn't have nearly the same number of sales to compare to as Ebay.

[David Weaver]

You can search Ebay completed listings for free

I would vote for this also, and not just for tools. Pretty much for anything that can be shipped that has enough rarity such that it's common on ebay but not common in a community store in droves, completed listings are the place to go.

And the searcher has to be honest with themselves about the condition of their goods unless they want to be reposting the same pictures over and over on various sites looking for someone who isn't aware of the value of something like a plane with rust vs. one that's got none, or a plane with a hang hole vs. one that's got none.

[Mike Henderson]

I agree that eBay is one of the best sources for actual market value of common tools. eBay's reach is very wide, all of North America and some of the rest of the world (when sellers will ship internationally) and there's generally lots of people who buy used tools. So you have a large potential buyer pool. Whatever the sale price is is the "market price". You'd have trouble selling for more than that unless you can catch a sucker.

Mike

[Mark Wyatt]

I'd agree with these assessments about e-bay, and would add one more factor. The profile and reputation of the seller can also be a large influence the sale price. Someone with a good reputation who knows what they are selling and how to display and describe it will often receive a higher price than those who don't.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Mark brings up a good point. Looking at the sale price of completed listings of handsaws, for example, I think, will exemplify this quite well - good photos and a good reputation go a long way with saw prices. (Of course, a lot of the price differential there is someone skilled tuning and sharpening the saw in question as well)

When doing this research, make sure you look at completed*listings, and of those listings that have sold, look at a few of them. There's a few tool sellers out there that list things at incredibly high buy it now prices, and leave it up to see what sticks. Sometimes they're lucky, sometimes something stays there for years getting lowered every month or so. You can see how some sellers who don't know what to charge for something often get caught up and and also price their things rather high, seemingly based on the high prices someone else is asking. (And probably not actually getting.)

If you're looking for maximum return on a tool sale, it seems like the best thing you can do is wait until just after Chris Schwarz or Popular Woodworking mentions the tool somewhere.

[Noah Barfield]

Hi all,

Thank you again for your guidance. I truly appreciate it! I also appreciate the tip about using e-bay's completed sales search function. It really helps!
This is a great community and I've learned quite a bit in the past year and a half of my membership. One feature that I wish the site had, however, is some sort of user / seller rating system (i.e. like e-bay). That way people would know if buyers / sellers treated them well and if they were happy with the overall experience. That aside, I am grateful for the generosity of help and information I've found here.

Sincerely,

Noah

[Brian Cameron]

One thing to watch out for is the fact that tool sales seem to b cyclical?..what is a hot seller today can go for peanuts next month and vice versa...watch ebay closely and try to get a feel for the trends..and set limits and stick with them!
Brian