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Vintage Amateur and Military Radio Amateur/military receivers and transmitters, morse, and any other related vintage comms equipment.

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Old 11th Sep 2017, 12:25 am   #1
majoconz
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Default Type "A" Mk3 Spyset. Value?

I even found a "Don 5" key to go in the box - I know it's not the proper key but it looks the part.

Any one an idea of the value, please? Shipping and insurance may be prohibitive from this side.
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Old 11th Sep 2017, 12:09 pm   #2
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Default Re: Type "A" Mk3 Spyset. Value?

Martin,

I doubt whether shipping and insurance will be prohibitive, because the value of this set is generally so high that secondary costs will be swamped. I was involved in the sale of one of these in the UK about 10 years ago. As I recall the price was around £3,000. That one was totally complete, and came with a number of other goodies direct from the veteran who had owned and used during it WWII. The best possible provenance you could say!

The question then is a) how much of your set it missing, and b) what have spy set prices done since then?

Valuing items like this is a bit of a mugs game, because they turn up so rarely that there is no "market rate" for them. Its really down to what a willing buyer will pay and what a willing seller will sell for. The £3,000 figure was based on what was generally an upper limit for the far more common B2 spyset of around £2,500 - I had seen enough of those for sale to be able to state that to be a fair price for a complete sample of one of those sets. The Type A would fetch more (if complete) because of its greater rarity.

Given this one has at least the morse key missing (not sure what else from your photo) I think I would be considering nearer to £2,000.

Richard
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Old 11th Sep 2017, 12:49 pm   #3
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Default Re: Type "A" Mk3 Spyset. Value?

It's obviously time I updated my home insurance!
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Old 12th Sep 2017, 10:16 am   #4
majoconz
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Default Re: Type "A" Mk3 Spyset. Value?

Quote:
The question then is a) how much of your set it missing,
Wow, thanks for that, Richard. I'll have to do some research to see what should be in the spares box before I can estimate what's missing!

There is a bit of provenance, but it's only hearsay. My Father was working for Marconi's in Hackbridge, Surrey where they used to make crystals and oscillators. In 1943 he was 'summoned' to go to Chelmsford to work on a project with a Fred Turner who was a radio man, my Father was a chassis designer, 'procurer' and estimator. In 1989 he came out to NZ for a visit and spotted the little red suitcase in my shack and his eyes lit up - "Do you know what you've got there" he said. I thought for a moment I saw a tear in his eye as he ran his hands over the bits and pieces as if he had found an old friend. Later he wrote to me with this...

“I am enclosing a cutting which may interest you. The A III was the first job which I was given when I was moved up from the shop floor to the office with Gutteridge (later to be my Godfather). I planned the production of the first 1000 sets which went to Europe, and strangely enough, when I went to Writtle in 1947 I was working with Mick Spooner who got the B.E.M. (British Empire Medal) for following up the liberating forces and bringing back all the A III’s he could get back from the Resistance.”

I guess that was to stop the Russians getting their hands on them as they did have some items which at the time were secret.

He also said that I should not try to clean up the little suitcase as it was made to be dirty! Fred Turner lived nearby in Braintree where we moved to in 1947, he modified a crystal set for me to receive the European 49m band which was jumping in the cold war era and later helped in getting a gov't surplus R 1475 working well. In his shack (he was G3VI) he made a television out of bits and pieces using a green screen tube, the first TV I saw was Sylvia Peters reading the news! (was it Sylvia Peters? - I see she passed away in 2016 aged 90.) So this 'interest' that I have in radio of all varieties is his fault! I well remember the Christmas parties for us kids that were held in the canteen in the New Street works, I was always fascinated by the wavy roof!
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