What is with these prices lately ?!?

[bandersen]

It's one thing for sellers to ask crazy prices, it's another for buyers to drive them up.
These sets show up fairly often and usually sell for under $200. Has the economy recovered ?
If this keeps up, I might be selling off some of my collection

$435 for an unrestored Sentinel 400
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=230456693228

$420 for an unrestored Admiral 24A12 - not working sold as-is.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=380158862859


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[jeyurkon]

And Harry has a very nice working metal Arvin that hasn't come close to those prices yet.

John

[hposter]

I can't figure it out, either--and I make a living selling on ebay!

Last month an OK condition Tele-Tone TV-149 sold for $455 as found..mine just sold for under $300, and it was clean, and had been electrically restored.

Plus, I've seen some non-TV people list a 'rare' 1950s beat-up console (even when it's a quite common model), and get their starting price of $250 or more. Maybe the buyer thought it was the last one ever to be found..?

I sometimes think the masses want to pay more, to someone that doesn't know anything...thinking it Must be a real Bargain! And, when a dealer has a good, tested, and properly described set, then it couldn't be a hidden gem.

Harry

PS--I have both the 7" portable, and the 10" Bakelite, mentioned above, and would be happy to get those prices (and mine were electrically restored)...but I suspect they'll go for less..and I'll wonder why!

[DaveWM]

perhaps it has to do with shipping? If its a large or fragile piece that can't be econimically shipped, then depends on where it is. Just a guess.

I have seem sone real odd prices on ebay, avg radios from the 60's going for crazy prices, then the next week sanity comes back. I guess it only take one or better two deparate gotta have it buyers to drive a price up. But it does of course not last.

Of course I never sell anything so what do i know

[kx250rider]

It's ignorance; on the part of the seller and the buyer. I know a guy who answered an ad in the Los Angeles Times classified for a "1954 Chevy 2-door, doesn't run" for $500. It was indeed a '54 Corvette, probably worth $50,000 at the time, in excellent original condition in storage for 30 years! The buyer was honest, but the seller didn't care about the money; just wanted it gone NOW. So it goes both ways, I guess.

Charles

[Eric H]

Harry, your 621 that sold a couple weeks ago was the highest priced 621 I've seen to date but it only went for a couple hundred more than a non working one in similar condition.

Wonder why the sudden interest in old TV's? Wonder if the people paying these prices want them for decorations or if they are newbie Collectors?

Maybe with Flat Panels now the norm these old tube sets are suddenly interesting to people?

Maybe, we, and I mean all of us collector folk have increased the interest in old sets with our various Sites and YouTube videos of old sets?

[kx250rider]

I get a lot of positive reaction to my YouTube videos with old TVs operating. I think there are a lot of new collectors, and also there's no place to put money to work these days, and people are putting it into collectibles to try to escape the rotten investing climate. It's more fun to have a rare TV to show off and hope to sell at a profit several years from now, than to let money sit in a shaky investment fund at 0.04% interest.

Charles

[bandersen]

Good points. I suspect we have been generating more interest.
I was puzzled with some of these sets listed as non-working and not much detail on the condition of the insides.
If someone really wants to get them running, they better ask more questions and be selective.

[miniman82]

Huzzah! Time to sell my working Philco 52T-1634!

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by Eric H

Wonder why the sudden interest in old TV's? Wonder if the people paying these prices want them for decorations or if they are newbie Collectors?

Now that OTA analog TV has gone away...