The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I need some info on four items that I am not too familiar with, as far as pricing. I have an opportunity to get (1) what appears to be a new old stock Triumph shaver, (2) a NOS K reproducer in the original box, (3) a NOS H (green) reproducer with original box and (4) a NOS Edison recorder... I have no idea what these might be worth - any ideas?

Has the seller stated a price or asking you to make an offer?

I know nothing about the Triumph shaver, but:

a New-OS K I would pay $175, max (they are okay, but not the best-sounding speakers)

a New-OS H I would pay $150, only if perfect

a New-OS Recorder I would pay $100, though $75 would be better (there are a LOT of Recorders hardly ever used, out there)

I suggest you ask the seller to name a price and go from there.

Jim

phonojim wrote:I suggest you ask the seller to name a price and go from there.

Jim

then it will probably just be too much.

True, but you need to have a starting point. It is easy to determine what to offer for used parts. I know what the ballpark should be for the two reproducers in good used complete but not necessarily restored condition. However, the fact that these are NOS adds an unknown factor to the price which makes it more difficult to arrive at an offer. If it is left up to the buyer to make a blind offer, he may end up paying much more than he might otherwise pay, or his offer is too little the seller may become insulted and simply end the potential transaction at that point. When I am involved in such a situation, I try to get some idea of what the seller is thinking so I can decide if I even want to try bargaining with him.

Jim

phonojim wrote:True, but you need to have a starting point. It is easy to determine what to offer for used parts. I know what the ballpark should be for the two reproducers in good used complete but not necessarily restored condition. However, the fact that these are NOS adds an unknown factor to the price which makes it more difficult to arrive at an offer. If it is left up to the buyer to make a blind offer, he may end up paying much more than he might otherwise pay, or his offer is too little the seller may become insulted and simply end the potential transaction at that point. When I am involved in such a situation, I try to get some idea of what the seller is thinking so I can decide if I even want to try bargaining with him.

Jim

reasonable enough. out of curiosity, though, what if you see something that someone has that's not necessarily being offered for sale, but you're interested in buying it anyway. do you then still press for a number from the "seller," or would you be more willing to make an offer or initiate talk of possible pricing yourself?

Here's my views about negotiation of sales prices --

1) Seller offers something for sale. I consider the seller.

If the seller is a dealer or a collector, then they ought to know what they have or be able to research it themselves. That is their responsibility. How hard is it to search the Internet these days? They certainly know how much they have in it, and should know how much they want for it. If they won't offer a starting price, then I won't dance to their tune. No offers, no games, period! I pass up a lot of things offered because of that.

If the seller is an individual and unlikely to figure out a fair price for something that is beyond their expertise, I will make a fair offer to the best of my knowledge of the item. For example, a widow that needs to sell her husband's phonograph(s). My conscious would not allow otherwise. I would say, "This item has sold recently in the range thus and so. In view of that, I would offer you this much."

2) A cold offer.

If I see something special that I want so bad to make a cold offer, then I will make a serious offer with the expectation I may have to negotiate even higher if I really want to have it. How long would I wait to see an item like this again? I have known people to go 40 years pining for something because they were too cheap to make a serious offer.

Thanks for all of the advice & info... I just needed a ballpark to work from. It's hard to guess, because in the past I have made offers to sellers for what I considered to be a "fair" price, only to be told that if it's worth that, they will keep it... in other words, if I offered less they would have let it go. People are hard to figure, since if the item was great aunt Sally's, a "fair" price might be considered to be an insult...

Curt A wrote:People are hard to figure...

You got that right. What works for one may not work for another. I try to backup my offers with hard evidence when possible.

I was visiting a "retro-tech" swap meet. A guy had been asking $2,000 for a mint 1st model Curta calculator all day long. People whisked by his table like it was made of Kryptonite. I showed eBay on my iPhone to the seller and said, "You can see there are a dozen on eBay right now, none over $1,000. I would love to buy yours for $1,000 cash before I leave now, but if not I suppose I'll have to buy one on eBay". That did the trick.