• HO Brass Trolleys

  • Discussion related to everything about model railroading, from layout design and planning, to reviews of related model tools and equipment. Discussion includes O, S, HO, N and Z, as well as narrow gauge topics. Also includes discussion of traditional "toy train" and "collector" topics such as Lionel, American Flyer, Marx, and others. Also includes discussion of outdoor garden railways and live steamers.
Discussion related to everything about model railroading, from layout design and planning, to reviews of related model tools and equipment. Discussion includes O, S, HO, N and Z, as well as narrow gauge topics. Also includes discussion of traditional "toy train" and "collector" topics such as Lionel, American Flyer, Marx, and others. Also includes discussion of outdoor garden railways and live steamers.

Moderators: 3rdrail, stilson4283, Otto Vondrak

  by brward
 
Have a collection of mint-in-original box brass trolleys. Looking to sell them. I need some help.

-Brian

http://www.trainworks.net/

  by Aa3rt
 
Brian-what kind of help do you specifically need?

You can either post in the For Sale section here at Railroad.Net (Make sure you give a good descrition and price for each item.) or there's always the "eBay alternative".

  by brward
 
I need to know what they are worth. The whole lot was willed to me from my father. Unfortunately, I have no use for them. He was a devout trolley fan his whole life. I would like to see these go to a good home, but at the same time get a fair price for them. I thought of ebay, but again, I don't know what price to ask or what to accept.

  by Aa3rt
 
brward wrote:I would like to see these go to a good home, but at the same time get a fair price for them. I thought of ebay, but again, I don't know what price to ask or what to accept.
Brian, The key here is to educate yourself as to the value of the items in question.

First of all, You say that they are mint and still in the original boxes-that's a very good start. Have they ever been test run? Painted for a specific trolley line? Sat on a shelf and collected dust? Condition is of the utmost importance.

Go to the "Toys & Hobbies" section of eBay. Under "Trains" (or maybe its "Model Trains") select HO scale and type in key words like "trolley" or "interurban". Hopefully you'll find some similiar items that you can watch and see what they're selling for. That should give you a guide as to what to ask for.

Another alternative would be to pick up a copy of Model Railroader or Railroad Model Craftsman. There are always places that advertise that they will buy brass collections. (You may also get an idea of asking prices there.) If you are knowledgeable of the asking price(s) you shouldn't get "taken" by an unscrupulous dealer.

Take an accurate inventory of the items and put it on a spreadsheet. Some digital photos would help. Then you can either fax or email your lists if you decide to go the dealer route.

Should you decide to go the eBay route:

A. Test run each item before listing it. Nothing causes buyers on eBay to question the legitimacy of a seller than to read something like "I got this at an estate sale and have no way to test it".

B. Take good digital pictures and be as honest as you can with your description. You do have the option to set a minimum bid or to set a reserve price that you will not sell any lower than.

C. Don't let on that you know little about the item. Answer any buyers inquiries as soon as possible.

As someone who has bought and sold on eBay for over 5 years now, with over 300 positive and no negative feedbacks to date (knock on wood) I have had some items go for much less than I expected and others that prompted furious bidding for what I wouldn't have given $5 for.

I sold off my father's collection of HO scale items when he decided to go to O scale due to his failing eyesight. He'd initially thought about selling his collection at train shows but I cautioned him that at train shows people are always trying to dicker for a lower, cheaper price. He was very pleased with the income from the sale of his HO scale items.

(One other eBay hint-If you have a lot of items to sell, and you're listing these items yourself, only list four or five items per day. Handling the emails both before and after an auction ends, wrapping and shipping items are all time consuming and you'll rapidly tire of it if working alone.)

If this is a substantial (large) collection, there are folks who specialize in hobby auctions and will work for a commission. You can also find them listed in the hobby magazines previously mentioned.

My condolences on the loss of your father and best of luck in disposing of the collection, whatever route you choose to take.

I'm hoping that someone else will chime in here with some other suggestions. Would you be offended if I moved this thread to the Scale Model Railroading forum where it would probably be viewed by more forum members?

  by brward
 
Art,
Thank you for the informative reply. I would absolutely take no offense to an action that would better a situation. Here is a list of what I have. From left to right it goes Model Company/Type/Road/Scale/Condition

S. Soho & Co./ #12 Coach/ Chicago, Aurora & Elgin/ HO Brass /Mint
S. Soho & Co./ #10 Combine/ Chicago, Aurora & Elgin/ HO Brass /Mint
S. Soho & Co./ #109 Funeral Car/ Chicago, Aurora & Elgin/ HO Brass /Mint
Ken Kidder / Single Truck Birney/ HO Painted/ Mint
Ken Kidder / Box Cab Electric/ HO Brass/ Mint
NJ Custom / Osgood Bradley/ Third Avenue Railway/ HO Brass/ Mint
NJ Custom/ 400 Series/ Third Avenue Railway/ HO Brass/ Mint
NJ Custom/ Single Truck Trolley/ Met. Street Railway/ HO Brass/ Mint
NWSL/ 1930 Brill/ Various/ HO Brass /Mint
Fairfield/ Pullman/ Chicago Surface Lines / HO Brass/ Mint
Fairfield/ Brill/ Chicago Surface Lines / HO Brass/ Mint
Fairfield/ 2-Man/ Chicago Surface Lines / HO Brass/ Mint
Fairfield/ 2-Man/ Chicago Surface Lines / HO Brass/ Mint
Fairfield/ #400/ San Diego/ HO Brass/ Near Mint
Fairfield/ Pitts Jones D.E./ HO Brass/ Mint
Fairfield/ #356 Curved Side/ Cincinnati/ HO Brass/ Mint
Fairfield/ Brooklyn 8000/ HO Brass/ Mint
Fairfield/ Fluted Side Huffliner/ Third Avenue Railway/ HO Brass/ Mint
Model Tramway Sys./ #367 D.T. Birney/ HO Brass/ Mint
Model Tramway Sys./ #383 Riveted Huffliner/ Third Avenue Railway/ HO Brass/ Near Mint
Hallmark Models/ CL&E Trolley Car/ HO Brass/ Mint
Suydam/ Golden Gate R.P.O./ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Mint
Suydam/ Blimp 67ft Combine/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Mint
Suydam/ Blimp 71ft Coach/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Mint
Suydam/ Wood Interurban Coach/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Mint
Suydam/ Interurban Coach/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Mint
Suydam/ Interurban Combine/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Near Mint
Suydam/ Blimp Box Motor/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Mint
Suydam/ San Berdoo 12 Coach/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Mint
Suydam/ Wood Interurban Coach/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Mint
Suydam/ Long Beach 12 Coach/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Near Mint
Suydam/ Combo Coach/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Near Mint
Suydam/ Business Car/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Mint
Suydam/ 414 Suburban Coach/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Near Mint
Suydam/ Wood Box Motor/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Mint
Suydam/ Combo Coach/ Chicago,North Shore & Milw./ HO Brass /Mint
Suydam/ Portland Combine/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Near Mint
Suydam/ Portland Coach/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Near Mint
Suydam/ Post Office Car/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Mint
Suydam/ Commodore Bus. Car/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Near Mint
Suydam/ Wood Interurban Coach/ Sacramento Northern/ HO Brass /Mint
Suydam/ Express Box Motor/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Mint
Suydam/ Mount Lowe Car/ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Near Mint
Suydam/ Wood Interurban Comb./ Pacific Electric/ HO Brass /Mint

  by Aa3rt
 
Brian, That's quite an impressive collection! I almost think an auction house may be your best bet to get a fair return on your collection.

I'm going to move this thread to the scale modeling forum where it will hopefully get some more exposure.

MODERATOR'S NOTE: Folks, please offer Brian any helpful suggestions as to how he can best divest himself of this collection of brass trolleys at a fair price.

  by astrosa
 
I suggest you visit this site: http://www.trolleyville.com

There is some information about brass trolleys there, but more importantly I think you should contact the webmaster, who should be George Huckaby. He's very knowledgeable about brass trolleys and may even make you an offer on some of those - I believe you can trust him to help you figure out a fair value.

  by Otto Vondrak
 
The value for brass goes up and down... lately, brass has not been a good investment and has been in a "down" market lately. There used to be a "Brown Book Guide" to brass prices, but it may be out of print.

You may want to simply post your list in the For Sale forum and see what kind of response you get there. What's it worth? Whatever you can get for it. Remember, what it's worth and what someone is willing to pay is two different things.

Either consider an auction or consignment to a brass dealer or a hobby shop.

-otto-

  by CNJ999
 
Otto Vondrak wrote:The value for brass goes up and down... lately, brass has not been a good investment and has been in a "down" market lately. There used to be a "Brown Book Guide" to brass prices, but it may be out of print.
Unfortunately, The Brown Book doesn't cover brass trolleys. However, the value of the listed items certainly runs into several thousand dollars. I'd advise the owner to carefully watch eBay sale prices on similar/identical items over at least several months (i.e. don't rush into selling these items) to first get an appreciation of their value. Once having that, it might be wish to approach a brass dealer to purchase the entire collection. Alternately, they could be offerred one at a time on eBay to probably gain the largest return.

One should note that with the advent of eBay, there simply are no hard and fast "dealer" figures for such items, which we once could easily quote. And because of eBay, much of the supposed sense of "rarity" for brass items has disappeared and prices have fallen significantly.

CNJ999

  by CNJ999
 
Perhaps I should have been more careful when I consulted The Brown Book before typing my earlier post. There are indeed a number of the items in question included therein under "Interurbans" and "City Cars".

Unfortunately, they are not too easily referenced in the book but I do note that items like the CSL 2-man car, the Suydam "Blimp" car and the NJCB TARS 400 car were valued at $160 in 1994 (probably around $200 or better today).

CNJ999