Needle sharpener prices

[Orchorsol]

I haven't posted about this before, as I have a vested interest to some extent - alongside the BCN thorn needles I often sell the more commonplace sharpeners, which I buy when the price is modest, and overhaul. Very rarely am I able to offer the best types such as Universal or MAL (the latter, never yet).

Sometimes the prices sharpeners fetch on the open market are extraordinary. I note every one I see for sale, mostly to ensure I'm not overpricing the ones I sell myself.

Take this Faye sharpener (a Meltrope design) which sold tonight for a blistering £167 on FleaBay. Why??? Scarcity? To complete a Faye Home Recorder set (or a rare Meltrope 3A soundbox)? Surely not to use - these are OK but not an especially good sharpener. Since 2018 I've seen this model sell for £46, £52, £127, £46, £27 and now this record price (I noted on each occasion they were all in nice condition).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-FAY-HOM ... 5587433892

[CarlosV]

Maybe the price was due to some fight between a couple of bidders, like sharpener collectors who are missing that particular item. Years ago I bought a box of sharpeners in an auction of a deceased collector appropriately called Roger Thorne, but that did not make a collector of these gadgets. I take them mostly as utilitarian tools to, believe it or not, sharpen my BCN thorn needles that I buy from you, Andy, and are an essential part of my hobby.

[epigramophone]

I think the mumbo jumbo which surrounds thorn and fibre needles may account for the high prices of some sharpeners.
When I caught the EMG/Expert bug I bought an expensive Davey Rollright sharpener. Even with my Expert's electric motor I could never get the thing to work satisfactorily and now rely on a humble IM Pointmaster which came with many spare abrasive strips and tyres. The Rollright was sold without regret.

[Steve]

I have dozens of sharpeners including the Expert sharpener and the Rollright EMG one, which as epigramophone has already said, is quite useless. Most are just for "display" including the Faye Home Recorder I have similar to the one Andy has shown the link to. Funnily enough the only one I ever use (admittedly rarely as I'm not a fan of thorn needles) is the MAL, hand-made in the 1990's by the Late Miles Mallinson. Miles was something of a genius, as well as a warm friendly gramophone enthusiast, and he was incredible skillful when it came to engineering parts and spares. He is sadly missed all around. I think he took inspiration from the Expert sharpener designed by the Late Joe Ginn (son of Ellis Michael Ginn), so he arguably took the best sharpener in existence and tweaked it further into something even better.

As for Ebay prices, I gave up years ago looking for trends and patterns; they are seemingly as random as lottery numbers!

[CarlosV]

I share Roger's and Steve's experience with the Rollright, it is almost impossible to get a good point with it, even with new rubber connections (I bought a newly-made one some years ago, sold I believe by Chunny). I utilize mostly an I.M. sharpener, it is practical and with a hard abrasive ring that I do not have to replace. The Meltrope was complicated but ok, until something warped and I could not get good points anymore.

[Orchorsol]

I agree with much of what's been said, thanks all. Yes eBay is crazy but this seemed egregiously daft!

Agreed, sharpeners are tools for those of us who use thorns avidly, but I can understand the collectability and I do have quite a few on that basis myself which I don't use.

Yes, the Davey Rollright is really awkward to fettle and to use, and even if one's lucky enough to get them working well, they make dust all over the turntable and motorboard - madness!

And yes, the MAL really is the Rolls-Royce of sharpeners and many users find it the ideal one to have as a 'daily driver'. I'd say it's more like the early form of Universal and RM sharpeners than Joe Ginn's clever design.