Vintage Radio Prices

[Station X]

Junk shops seem to offer sets for sale at prices which are very unrealistic as far as I'm concerned.

One I visit regularly has a number of Bakelite sets which have remained unsold for at least four years. They all have broken or cracked cases, missing or burnt backs or dial glasses with lettering scrubbed off. Not to mention the usual missing knobs.

I've pointed out these defects and made what I consider to be generous offers, but the shop owner won't budge. I must assume that vintage radio collectors are not the type of buyers he's looking for.

By contrast I got a reasonable "collect only" Bakelite set from someone about 10 miles away for a tenner.

[Oldelectronics]

There has been a Bush AC31 for sale at £100 for a year now in an antique emporium which I made an offer on some time ago but the vendor wouldn't budge not even a counter offer ( I offered about a quarter of that) Perhaps its not that sets are getting more expensive but some people's expectations and ideas of value are unrealistic? And the high priced sets simply don't sell easily and just get re advertised?

Kev

[threeseven]

Similarly, there is a small retro type shop in Worcester that mainly sells terrible old dark wood furniture, not even of good quality, decorative items etc, that also generally has a few woody's, 50's Bakelite's etc. Never anything notable, just the typical run of the mill stuff, always sold as 'for display only' but at stupidly high prices. They never seem to sell, surprise, surprise!

[AC/HL]

Originally Posted by Station X

Junk shops seem to offer sets for sale at prices which are very unrealistic as far as I'm concerned.

Could be to maintain stock valuation, in case of an insurance claim, but that doesn't explain why they don't shift them when they get an offer.

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by Oldelectronics

There has been a Bush AC31 for sale at £100 for a year now in an antique emporium which I made an offer on some time ago but the vendor wouldn't budge not even a counter offer ( I offered about a quarter of that) Perhaps its not that sets are getting more expensive but some people's expectations and ideas of value are unrealistic? And the high priced sets simply don't sell easily and just get re advertised?

You have to understand the reality (the cost!) of selling from a high street outlet. Such sets will be more expensive, often too expensive. But it's not like you and me selling a set from 'our doorstep' making a fiver or so on what we picked it up for. Yes, I agree, antique emporium/shop sets are often expensive for what they are, I just don't buy from them (unless they don't recognise a gem in their hands), but like I say they have costs to recoup, they can't sell sets for a few quid like we do. Hell, beer is £3 a pint! (£5 in London sorry).

[Nickthedentist]

Originally Posted by Station X

Junk shops seem to offer sets for sale at prices which are very unrealistic as far as I'm concerned.

Usually but not always. I picked up a mint, ivory DAC90A for £30 or £40 from our local "antiques emporium" a year or so ago.

N.

[Radio Wrangler]

I think chickens and eggs get involved here. The junk shop doesn't sell its overpriced radios, so they sit there taking up expensive space in the shop, so the high price is justified in the cost of the space-time consumed before it does find someone who either doesn't care about the price or doesn't know about the going rate. If it had been priced more realistically, it wouldn't have hung about so long and wouldn't have needed to be priced so high. Thus we have two stable circumstances: High priced sets sitting on shelves, never selling, and competitively priced sets resting for a short while and going out the door. They are both latch-up conditions, maintained by positive feedback.

There are many old junk shops in the old town of Edinburgh, and a look in the window every now and then recognises plenty of items which have never shifted since Noah was a lad. They show no signs of shifting while the shop owner lives. The mystery is what the shop owner lives on...

David

[julie_m]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

The mystery is what the shop owner lives on...

I can only suppose there must be other items which turn over more quickly than old wireless sets, but people like us just don't tend to notice them.

There probably are other specialist classes of items whose aficionados consider to be overpriced in most general second-hand outlets .....

[theoldtrout]

My impression is that prices are stable or falling, probably due to those of us who are interested in old electronics becoming fewer in numbers. Some Bakelite sets are still fashionable among those who just want something as a decorators piece. I do get people bringing in basket cases they bought at a boot sale hoping they are valuable only to be told they'd cost ten times what they paid to get it working and it would still not be worth much. I only recently got £20 for a tidy working DAC90 I sold at a rally.

[stevehertz]

Out of interest, from the 70s onwards, DAC90s always used to sell at £40 - £50. It was the standard price for one. Now they sell for between £50 and £100 depending on condition. Probably the bakelite effect and the fact that are small and cute. On the other hand, a good Philips 634a could (used to) fetch £250, but now they go for as little as £50. Fashion exists within antique collecting of any sort, and it drives prices up or down due to the bandwagon vs availability effect.

[paulsherwin]

Dealers do tend to have a very inflexible idea of what something is worth, and will wait almost indefinitely for someone to come along and pay it. The fact that radios are taking up display space and probably deteriorating doesn't seem to bother them. Some of them would rather dump a radio in a skip rather than sell it for a realistic price, often deliberately smashing it so nobody gets a bargain at their expense. It's a very odd attitude.

[mark_in_manc]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

There are many old junk shops in the old town of Edinburgh, and a look in the window every now and then recognises plenty of items which have never shifted since Noah was a lad. They show no signs of shifting while the shop owner lives. The mystery is what the shop owner lives on...

We may be mi-reading what the sets are there for. There's a guy near me who does house clearances, and sometimes has 'odd things', some of which would be of interest to this forum. He keeps such things around at rather high prices, they make a nice attractive display, and some attract less tight-ae buyers than me. His real business is being paid to empty premises and selling the resulting office furniture and wobbly wardrobes to student landlords, which all happens out the back and which would result in a much less attractive 'shop window'.

[DrTerror]

I sometimes wonder if the vintage audio gear sold is ever actually repaired and used in the way it was intended. It would be a great shame if it wasn't, but I have the feeling that a lot of gear is just bought for show.

My 18 year old daughter, who has never had an interest in audio equipment, vintage or otherwise, for some reason or another, lately has an unhealthy obsession with my Hacker RP38A!, she has never listened to a radio broadcast, or even music in general, for nigh on her whole lifetime, so why the hell does she want my Hacker so bad?

I suppose it must look 'trendy' ATM, or something like that and I think that is what pushes the prices of vintage radio equipment up.

And no, she ain't getting any of my vintage audio gear, no matter how much it may impress her new uni buddies or not!

[Skywave]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

Some of them [dealers] would rather dump a radio in a skip rather than sell it for a realistic price, often deliberately smashing it so nobody gets a bargain at their expense. It's a very odd attitude.

With regard to old radios, I've never witnessed nor heard of that. However with regard to other 'collectable things', I have heard the 'argument' that such destruction reduces the global population of the item by one, thus fractionally increasing the scarcity of those not destroyed and consequently producing an increase in the demand and a commensurate rise in the 'obtainable price' of those remaining. Which if you think about it, is not only stupid but simply won't work. Personally, I believe such vandalism to be nothing more than a blend of spite and pique: "If I can't get the price I want for this, then no-one will get it! So there!"

That attitude is more than sad: it's pathetic.

Al.

[dseymo1]

Originally Posted by bluepilot

I saw a curious case a year or so ago. Someone started off trying to sell a radio, listing it at €50. When it didn't sell it was relisted at €60. Then €70, €80, etc. until it was well over €100. Eventually he gave up. I never did work out the logic behind that, unless he was trying to recover the listing fees.

There is actually potentially a sound principle in operation here.
I'm reminded of a major Japanese camera maker who entered the UK market many years ago. They pitched their prices competitively, allowing themselves a modest margin, but the cameras didn't sell in any quantity, so they commissioned some market research. Potential buyers responded that they felt the cameras couldn't be much good if they could be sold at that price. The response was to double the retail prices, whereat they started selling like hotcakes!

[threeseven]

Just a few months ago I met a guy that had cleared out an old shop in Birmingham. It's business was white goods and had been in business for over 60 years. They got to the basement, which was apparently huge, and found dozens of old radios', TV's and other random electrical equipment in his words. Wait for this, all seemed new in their boxes, although heavily soiled and dusty!! It was all deeply buried below and behind newer stuff from more recent decades and so hadn't been seen for many years. He had no knowledge at all about such stuff but he asked someone on his team who 'knew of such things". He said it was all useless old junk because it was probably valve and those aren't made any more, and it wouldn't work on modern electricity anyway! He said there would also be a safety issue because radio's and TV's etc from that time were quite dangerous and were known to cause fires!
You know where this is going now I think, yes, it was all skip'd!! I asked if he could remember any of the makes but he couldn't, although when I mentioned a few to try and jog his memory, Ecko and Bush seemed to ring a bell.
I was mortified, when I told him the reality of what he'd done he was extremely upset!
It was just chance that I met him but as commercial clearance is his business I've given my details for future reference, just in case he makes any more discoveries like that.
I still can't believe it, oh the treasures they could have been!

[stevehertz]

TBH, you'd have thought that anyone who does 'house clearances', that sort of thing, would know that vintage radios/TVs do have some value. Heck, normally they think they're worth loads!

[paulsherwin]

The general attitude of outsiders is either that old radios are junk to be skipped, or that they're all worth a fortune. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground at all.

[stevehertz]

Yes and nine times out of ten, normally the latter.

[threeseven]

You'd be surprised what people will skip without a moments thought! A friend was tipped off about 2 big modern air compressors that were being scrapped, bear with me, there is an electronics connection!
The catch was he had to get down to the location before the end of the next day or they were being collected for scrap!
So I was recruited to help him and off we went. We were confused when we arrived because the place looked like a modern office block!
Our contact was there to meet us and we were shown to the storage area. Sure enough there was 1 Hydrovane and 1 Atlas Copco, both really nice screw compressors, complete with coolers, dryers and loads of pipework, connectors, valves, FRL's etc, etc.
All less than 10 years old with low hours! We could not believe our luck! Apparently they had been used by a company making medical electronic equipment that had gone bust. The company clearing the plant and equipment was actually grateful to have them taken off site because it would have cost them more than they reckoned they were worth to be disposed of!
There is easily £5k's worth of stuff there, maybe more! The friend in question is currently building a new racing team workshop so he now has a complete new air system for nothing, apart from fuel for collecting it and my lunch for that day!
By coincidence, on the way out I noticed a pile of Yuasa Y12-12L SLA batteries stacked up on a pallet, about 100 of them. I enquired about them and the guy said they were being scrapped too, and I could take what wanted! So I had 10, I wish now I'd had the lot! The ones I took are all good.
This must be happening day in and day out all over the country!