Valves and meters. Advice required please
 

Hello

I've just signed up as I am need of advice regards the following. An elderly neighbour is now in a care home and when clearing the house I have come across a reasonable number of valves which going by the receipts knocking around were bought from a company called RST Valve mail order company of Streatham back in the mid 70's. The vast majority are still in their packets covered in dust and others are wrapped in corrugated cardboard, please does anyone know if there is likely to be any monetary value here or should I just put them out for recycling. There are also some Bakelite Microammeter, microampere and Milliampere meters. Any advice gratefully received, thank you

Re: Valve and meters. Advice required please
 

Yes, they will have a value. This varies a great deal depending on the type and manufacturer - anything from £1 for a nondescript TV valve to £500 for some rare and esoteric type valued by the high-end hifi community. A good place to get an idea of value is to search eBay for completed sales of that valve type, but remember that the manufacturer and even the batch code can make a big difference. A Mullard or Telefunken valve will almost always be worth more than, say, a Pinnacle valve of the same type.

Don't skip them whatever you do. If you find they are of little financial value, you can offer them here free of charge and an enthusiast will be able to make use of them.

Re: Valve and meters. Advice required please
 

They are worth something, put them on eBay with a correct description and untested. You can check the value by looking for similar items on the auction site and using the eventual sale price.

Re: Valves and meters. Advice required please
 

There is likely to be some monetary value, but how much depends on what types they are.

Some people bought new valves to fix things and slipped the old, part worn valve into the packaging to keep it safe in case it ever 'came in' So just being in the packaging is not a reliable indicator of condition, however, they can be tested.

Some valves sell for absolutely silly prices, but these are rather rare. Some are merely expensive, but these aren't so common. Most sell for a few to several pouds in as-new condition. Ones sought by audio aficionados can go into the few tens of pounds for what were once common types. Specialised types for TV sets don't fetch much at all.

Even the low value ones will have some people wanting them, and as these are things which won't be made again, it would be a shame to dump them when they could be used.

Your next step would be to build a list of their type numbers and post it on here. People will point out which ones are of interest and what range their value would be in - spanning the range untested used to tested and showing like new.

Some makes attract higher prices, while a lot of valves sold in the 60's and 70's were imported soviet ones marked with western type numbers. The maker's name and even the colour of the marking have snob and mythology value.

This is an open forum and is regularly indexed by the major search engines, so anything put on here soon appears on Google, etc. Please don't post anything personally identifying like phone numbers, email and addresses. If you then post anything about a sought after part, you can get troubled by unwanted attention as some people have perpetual searches going for things of value. The moderators are pretty brisk at removing such errors, but they can't always be quick enough.

Post a list and then you can get some guidance on what he has, then you can decide things based on some data.

David

Re: Valves and meters. Advice required please
 

Whatever you do please do not put them in a skip! As the other replies have said it is very difficult indeed to know their value. For several reasons some valves are now very valuable. Or they may be almost worthless It is impossible to tell without knowing their type, seeing them and as far as possible testing them on a reliable machine (often difficult even for the experienced).

My advice would be to find a local radio radio club who may have someone who can help you. Of course many valuable valves are not radio valves but it all depends on finding the right person for impartial advice. If you wish to follow up on finding a local radio club and have difficulty please PM me.

Good luck.

Anthony M0WWV

Re: Valves and meters. Advice required please
 

Hi, welcome to the old radio and TV world.

I've sent you a message.

Sam.