UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > General Vintage Technology > Where To Get Sets and Parts

Notices

Where To Get Sets and Parts For discussions about swapmeets, rallies, NVCF and BVWS, car boot sales, antique and charity shops, dealers, newspaper adverts, the local tip and just about any other source of equipment (other than eBay).

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 24th Jan 2020, 11:51 pm   #41
dave walsh
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex.
Posts: 5,814
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

Very interesting. Some of the conventional "antiquey" items were not that expensive for what you got. Yes there was one military comms selection [3346] where the bidding reached nearly £2k [competition the auctioneers friend?] and a perhaps high priced valve group but overall, many lots seemed relatively good value... if you calculate resale value on the individual items that is, in the right place! It's all speculation in the end though . One lot of photos didn't reach it's reserve which surprised me.

Auctions are just gambling really but safer. You can win... but if you don't... you haven't actually lost anything

Dave W

Last edited by dave walsh; 25th Jan 2020 at 12:01 am.
dave walsh is offline  
Old 24th Jan 2020, 11:59 pm   #42
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,800
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

Back in the sixties, easily usable receivers like HROs and AR88s cost real money. Military stuff like 19 sets and R1155 were cheap and sometimes used as parts donors for homebrew exploits. So now it's the military stuff that fetches top dollar, unless something bearing a swastika turns up - now that really sends some collectors into a frenzy.

The Nikonos camera went cheaply, I thought they were a bit sought after. Designed originally by Jacques Cousteau, no less.

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is offline  
Old 25th Jan 2020, 12:28 am   #43
dave walsh
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex.
Posts: 5,814
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

That's very true David [except re the Lancaster 1155 perhaps?]. Especially re the 19 sets which I don't think that much of even now, although they are venerated in some quarters. Clumsy and tightly wired [like R1155's in a way] but I would have loved one of those back then. They had a proper dial after all [like an R107] and looked the business but probaly 2-4 weeks wages at least. I only got one a decade ago. We are back to the auction "gamble". You never know who turns up or what they might value......in every sense of the word!

Dave
Bexhill

PS. I fully accept that the 19 Radios had an undoubted value in the actual war time situation [even with the UHF one valve regenerative B set not being up to much] and one where people died. Of course I'm looking at this from my experience twenty years after the War was won by those same individuals. Same thing if you were twenty years old in a Bomber!

Last edited by dave walsh; 25th Jan 2020 at 12:41 am.
dave walsh is offline  
Old 25th Jan 2020, 1:03 am   #44
M6SPW1974
Pentode
 
M6SPW1974's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Millom, South Cumberland, UK.
Posts: 114
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

Quote:
Originally Posted by David G4EBT View Post
Thanks for the link.

Crikey - it’s true then - ‘the only difference between men and boys is the price they pay for their toys’.

(Plus 28.4% buyer’s premium of course)
Exactly David, but who is to say if any of the items work or are even internally complete,its a huge risk to take unless you can open the sets up for a quick peek.

Ohwell as long as it makes them happy,just know i can get most of those items cheaper than that with no buyers premium.

Best regards,Shaun
M6SPW1974 is offline  
Old 25th Jan 2020, 1:45 am   #45
Techman
Dekatron
 
Techman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 4,985
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

It looks like the usual 'valve man' was there to buy up all the valves regardless of cost. If it's who I'm thinking of, then he lives not far from there, or so he told me when I was chatting to him once. They call him 'Captain Birdseye' at one of my local auctions - he outbids me on valves, not that I bid very high anyway, so I'm that bothered!

It looks like there were reserves on some of the lots as they're still listed as for sale and to make an offer.
Techman is offline  
Old 25th Jan 2020, 1:59 am   #46
M6SPW1974
Pentode
 
M6SPW1974's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Millom, South Cumberland, UK.
Posts: 114
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

Quote:
Originally Posted by Techman View Post
It looks like the usual 'valve man' was there to buy up all the valves regardless of cost. If it's who I'm thinking of, then he lives not far from there, or so he told me when I was chatting to him once. They call him 'Captain Birdseye' at one of my local auctions - he outbids me on valves, not that I bid very high anyway, so I'm that bothered!

It looks like there were reserves on some of the lots as they're still listed as for sale and to make an offer.

I know exactly who you mean by Captain Birdseye, he used to go to the Radiophile auctions,but aint seen him there for at least the last x4 auctions.

I was watching the auction streaming live & most of the valves were sold to internet bidders, i think there is more chance that it was Roberto who i am lead to believe was banned from the BVWS auctions & goes under the seller name of messinacat on Ebay.

Regards,Shaun.
M6SPW1974 is offline  
Old 25th Jan 2020, 2:03 am   #47
m0cemdave
Octode
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 1,205
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

Quote:
Originally Posted by dave walsh View Post
Yes there was one military comms selection [3346] where the bidding reached nearly £2k [competition the auctioneers friend?]

Dave W
From studying the pictures:

That lot included a couple of rare museum pieces from WW2 - a British Spy set Tx (as supplied to the French Resistance etc) and a German Army portable set, along with some more common items.

Lot 3381 contained two more spy sets which explains the £1400 hammer price.

I'm sure the buyers will have been very happy with the prices, even after the premium was added.

Lot 3357, an apparent pile of nondescript bits and pieces, also included a spy set Tx.

At least the collection didn't get cleared into skips and scrapped, which often happens in similar situations.

Last edited by m0cemdave; 25th Jan 2020 at 2:25 am.
m0cemdave is offline  
Old 25th Jan 2020, 3:13 am   #48
M6SPW1974
Pentode
 
M6SPW1974's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Millom, South Cumberland, UK.
Posts: 114
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

Quote:
Originally Posted by m0cemdave View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by dave walsh View Post
Yes there was one military comms selection [3346] where the bidding reached nearly £2k [competition the auctioneers friend?]

Dave W
From studying the pictures:

That lot included a couple of rare museum pieces from WW2 - a British Spy set Tx (as supplied to the French Resistance etc) and a German Army portable set, along with some more common items.

Lot 3381 contained two more spy sets which explains the £1400 hammer price.

I'm sure the buyers will have been very happy with the prices, even after the premium was added.

Lot 3357, an apparent pile of nondescript bits and pieces, also included a spy set Tx.

At least the collection didn't get cleared into skips and scrapped, which often happens in similar situations.

Hi Dave, you obviously did'nt clock lot lot #3350, a MK128 RX-TX with it's case door a-jar along with an AR88 & a few other goodies,not a proper spy set,more clandestine that would of been used & hidden away in U.K Embassies for emergencies, still worth £300 all day long as i have sold a few.

https://www.davidduggleby.com/auctio...b.aspx?search=
M6SPW1974 is offline  
Old 25th Jan 2020, 8:27 am   #49
G3VKM_Roger
Heptode
 
G3VKM_Roger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Southeast Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 772
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

Lot 3346 had a Wireless Sender No 76 which will have boosted the interest. The lot also had the companion R109 receiver for the 76. I saw the MK128 but it looked as though someone had been at it and not bothered to replace all the front panel screws.

Roger
G3VKM_Roger is offline  
Old 25th Jan 2020, 11:14 am   #50
dave walsh
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex.
Posts: 5,814
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

Yes I did miss a few things didn't I? It was guesswork on my part as I'm not very up on some of the gear, especially Spy Sets which have never been an interest. I'm glad about that though, due to there rarity and value-especially these days. Another problem with evaluating this kind of sales environment is that what's expensive to one person might be the opposite to another of course but as a group of restorers, I think that [by definition] we are biased towards not spending very much at all if it can possibly be avoided

Dave
dave walsh is offline  
Old 25th Jan 2020, 1:58 pm   #51
Hartley118
Nonode
 
Hartley118's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Cambridge, Cambs. UK.
Posts: 2,196
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

I left a few low bids for items of interest, but the prices sailed way past my level, with the exception of an interesting-looking elderly Leitz microscope in a decent wooden cabinet which I won for £60. However, with buyer's premium and packing and carriage, by the time I receive it, it will have cost double that.

As a viewer of 'Flog It', I was interested to experience as a bidder an auction combining internet and 'floor' bidding, and I must say that I was impressed at the speed and slickness of the whole operation. The post-auction process of paying and arranging delivery has been equally slick. Interesting to experience an auction house which has efficiently embraced the internet: so different from the days when an auction was mainly just a gathering of a few local penny-pinching dealers.

I too was staggered at the prices fetched by the boxes of valves. I can only conclude that bidders had examined the lots beforehand and discovered a few PX25s in there!

Most importantly, the overall high level of prices fetched has persuaded me that this kind of auction may be a jolly good way of selling my own collection when the time comes. And I also recognise that it solves the eternal packing & carriage problem of an eBay sale.

Martin
__________________
BVWS Member
Hartley118 is online now  
Old 25th Jan 2020, 3:38 pm   #52
CambridgeWorks
Nonode
 
CambridgeWorks's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Spalding, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK.
Posts: 2,851
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

I have also only seen the live auctions with the likes of bargain hunt. It was quite interesting. I started viewing about half way through the radio stuff. I was quite amazed at the bids on what looked like junk box lots, although others habve stated that some valuable items were mixed up as well. The assorted wire and cables was many times what I thought it would fetch.

"Most importantly, the overall high level of prices fetched has persuaded me that this kind of auction may be a jolly good way of selling my own collection when the time comes. And I also recognise that it solves the eternal packing & carriage problem of an eBay sale."
Yes, I tend to agree. I would need a large van to take it to Scarborough.
Techman commented about the two concurrent auctions, the junk one and the better catalogued one and a "lot" split between the two. No use to attract internet bids.
This would mean that to dispose of all your gear, it would be absolutely essential to go into a catalogued saleroom plus internet auction. No good just a small handful or just one or two people bidding. This is hammered home (no pun intended) by a lot of the results from yesterday with internet bids.
I am slowly weaning my daughter away from the "I'll just get a skip in" attitude when I showed her one or two items and estimated value in my shack. She told me that I need to label everything as to value. We all know there is more to it than that, it is just not quite as simple.
"So those days they turn into years" (Genesis lyrics, Undertow)
Rob
__________________
Apprehension creeping like a tube train up your spine - Cymbaline. Film More soundtrack - Pink Floyd
CambridgeWorks is offline  
Old 25th Jan 2020, 4:48 pm   #53
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,800
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

My eyes were opened to auctions at a farm displenishment sale when I first saw farmers bidding on old electric fence units and going over the price of a brand new one!

Since then I've found it a regular feature. Scots farmers running away with themselves.

I also notice that the auction firm doing these sales always has a bar on-site.

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is offline  
Old 25th Jan 2020, 5:02 pm   #54
AC/HL
Dekatron
 
AC/HL's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 9,637
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

They live in a world of their own, if the TV programmes capture a flavour despite the camera's presence distorting things. Low start bids are just what we call a snek lifter around here. Caveat emptor is as appropriate as ever it was.
AC/HL is offline  
Old 25th Jan 2020, 5:38 pm   #55
TonyDuell
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK.
Posts: 5,190
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
My eyes were opened to auctions at a farm displenishment sale when I first saw farmers bidding on old electric fence units and going over the price of a brand new one!

Since then I've found it a regular feature. Scots farmers running away with themselves.

I also notice that the auction firm doing these sales always has a bar on-site.

David
When the labs where my father worked closed down, he and I went to the (official) auction of surplus equipment.

There were certainly some bargains that I was interested in. A DEC MINC (data logger based on a PDP11/23 processor) went (to me) for £2 and it contained a couple of rare input modules. A lot of HP85 etc series computers. My first logic analyser. And so on.

But there were also a lot of surprising high prices. Old PCs (we are talking about 80286 or even 8088 machines in the mid 1990s) went for over £100 in many cases (and there were nothing obviously special about them). A bag of assorted boxes of woodscrews went for more than similar screws would cost new at Screwfix or the like.

Considering it was mostly dealers bidding there I do wonder what was going on....
TonyDuell is online now  
Old 25th Jan 2020, 6:03 pm   #56
G6Tanuki
Dekatron
 
G6Tanuki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,951
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
My eyes were opened to auctions at a farm displenishment sale when I first saw farmers bidding on old electric fence units and going over the price of a brand new one!
As Tom Jones sang in the 1960s - "It's not Unusual".

I regularly see secondhand mechanical-workshop stuff like hammer-drills/trolley-jacks/axle-stands/pillar-drills/compressors selling on various physical and online-auction-sites for significantly more than the same model - new with 2-years guarantee - would cost at your local Machine-mart/Screwfix/Toolstation.

"A Fool and his/her Money are Easily Parted".
G6Tanuki is offline  
Old 27th Feb 2020, 12:22 pm   #57
AC/HL
Dekatron
 
AC/HL's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 9,637
Default Re: Very interesting auction of communications equipment

Thread closed as some are now starting to appear on eBay.
AC/HL is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 8:50 pm.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.