Boxes - did I miss the boat ?

[Greg Parrish]

I have been tossing all of my Lie Nielsen plane and chisel boxes as I’ve acquired the tool but just yesterday I noticed someone selling empty original boxes on eBay. Is there a demand for these things? Should I have kept and listed them? Or is it just one person trying to capture a crazed bidder or something. Seems that cardboard boxes would not be a big deal. LOL

[Jason Martin Winnipeg]

Antique tools are worth more to collectors if they have the original box... but hanging on to a cardboard box for 70 years until is valuable is not something I want to do.

[Greg Parrish]

Antique tools are worth more to collectors if they have the original box... but hanging on to a cardboard box for 70 years until is valuable is not something I want to do.

Me neither but the boxes being sold on eBay right now are brand new ones. Just seems weird but if there is a market I missed the boat.

[Tony Wilkins]

I keep mine but just in case I want to sell them later. I wouldn’t buy one if I didn’t have it. I do think things sell better with the original box for whatever reason.

[Jason Martin Winnipeg]

Oh, brand new? That is weird...

[Greg Parrish]

Yeah I thought it was weird. There are like 3 new boxes listed now. LOL

I just tossed a brand new lie Nielsen #7 box in the recycle an hour ago if anyone wants it. LOL.

[mike v flaim]

Never throw away the box. if nothing else, you could offset the cost of the tool with the sale of the box.

[Jim Koepke]

This is a bit different.

At one time Patrick Leach was selling a mint Stanley #45, type 5, on ebay with the box. It went for more than $3000. My inquiry about why the price went so high received the reply that it was all about the box.

Type 5 (box)1.jpg

Most of my boxes for LN tools have been saved. They do not take up much room.

For an LN user plane they likely are not worth a lot. A quick look at completed listings do not indicate any have sold recently.

Have to watch the auction results to see what happens.

jtk

[Scott Winners]

I tossed the boxes on my bevel edged chisels. I use them "a lot", they have drawer space so I can get to them quick.

I did keep the factory boxes for my infrequently used stuff. I have two mortise chisels, a corner chisel and a shoulder plane, all LN, and a veritas router plane. I use all of those so infrequently it is worth it - to me- to keep them pristine in the factory boxes so when I do need them, they are pristine. They are sharper than when they left the factory (honed) , well slathered in jojoba oil from the hippie store (no shipping), but back in factory rust paper and so on.

The router plane might end up on the shelf under my workbench, jury out.

All of my bevel chisels have been dropped onto concrete since... new years day 2019. I don't remember dropping any of them onto concrete in calendar 2018, but one of my goals for 2019 is to spend more time in the shop. Another of my goals for 2019 is to stop dropping tools on the floor :smiley:

keeping boxes just depends on the thing and the timing. Star Wars toys, for instance, are in a time period where the kids that couldn't afford the originals in the 1980s have money now and are paying big big dollars. Another 20 years there will be yawning for an original Darth Vader action figure in the original box.

Same thing with the baby boomers. The price of of Fiesta ware and Pepsi bottles with wooden crates is going to plummet in a few years when the folks that remember those things from childhood die. I wouldn't pay ten cents for 96 pepsi bottles from 1952 in their factory supplied wooden case cartons.

I wonder which LN or Veritas product is the rarest of the rare? FWIW I have never seen a shipping crate for one dozen Disston saws. I wonder what those are worth.

[Jason Martin Winnipeg]

This is a bit different.

At one time Patrick Leach was selling a mint Stanley #45, type 5, on ebay with the box. It went for more than $3000. My inquiry about why the price went so high received the reply that it was all about the box.




jtk

That's funny. I just bought some carving chisels from Patrick that were still in the box. I told him to keep the box if it would save on shipping costs.

[George Yetka]

I think boxes like these are traps. People throw them on ebay hoping someone will see it and say oh cool a brand new veritas jack plane for $20 and buy it without reading. I know this because i have done it.

[Stephen Prunier]

I've saved all of my LN boxes. I reuse the saw boxes when I send them to LN for resharpening. Plus the boxes remind me how much I've spent over the years

[steven c newman]

IMAG0119.jpg
All about the box....
IMAG0057.jpg
Yep...
IMAG0025.jpg
Sometimes, a decal adds a bit of interest...