K-line Mystery

[pennman]

     A few years ago I came across 3 K-line K-635402 Budwiser tank car banks with display base so I bought them hoping that I could make a "6 pack" down the road. According to the display base there were only 1000 of these made. Here's where the plot thickens!  I was reorganizing boxes in my storage room and came across the boxes for these cars. When I started to read the box I realized that K-line made a huge mistake in production of these cars. The boxes state "fully sprung die cast metal trucks". Bzzzzzzzzzzz! WRONG! Ooooh! Sorry, sorry! The correct answer should have been....what are plastic trucks!

     Here's my quandry. My wife and I have changed home insurance companies and they want a detailed list of valuebles and accurate value of everything in the home (not as easy as we thought 3 days has turned into 3 weeks 4 days and counting). I have been all over the webb, local hobby shops and 2 trade shows to try to get this info and have not gotten a really good answer. Can any one help? I want to keep them and continue my quest for the other three. I just don't want to sell myself short or go to high and get in trouble. Thanks!

[brianel027]

Your task pennman is made more difficult by the fact that K-Line made a lot of variations that many are not aware of. And there is no price guide for K-Line products. For example, I recently saw a black 027 LNE gondola for sale. This was a highly unusual car of which not many were made, yet it sold for under $10. On the other hand, at one time I had a very unusual K-Line 027 B&O box car which was cataloged with a blue body. Mine was yellow. I got a lot of money for that car, but I also found a buyer who was aware this car was uncommon if not rare, and was willing to pay to have it.

Unlike Lionel products, where there is a lot of information and a lot of buyers who are knowledgable, this is not yet true for all K-Line products. Yes, many of the early licensed items made by K-Line (like the Ringling Bros, Coke, Pepsi, etc) came with plastic trucks instead of die-cast regarless of what the catalogs showed.

My advice in estimating a value is to go a little higher than the original list. While many K-Line cars are still quite common and available, I would imagine some of the licensed items like the Bud items are a little harder to find at bargain prices.... not impossible, just a little more difficult. The K-Line Ringling Bros. stuff certainly seems to be holding value if not going up. I've seen the operating searchlight and operating Ringling box car selling for near $60 each.

As with any so-called collectible, it's only worth what someone is willing to pay you for it. While price guides are that, only guides, they do help out. The stuff like Lionel, AF, Kusan, MARX, etc. that has been around for years and has avid following as far as collectors is easier to estimate a value. The K-Line KCC Collectors Book might help you out some, but that book will not tell you production run numbers, which also can affect value.

But as I pointed out with the LNE gondola and the B&O box car, people have to be knowledgable of what is and isn't common. And then, just as importantly, people have to want those items. A train car could be made in a limited run of lets say 500 pieces, but if no one is interested in it, it won't be worth that much regardless of the production run. Whereas some Lionel pieces were made in the 10's of thousands, but because there is a demand, the prices reflect this.

[eZAK]

pennman,

As for a value for ins. needs,  You could either put down what you paid for it or what you would sell it for.

You could also check ebay's past sales.

A value of a collectible is an estimation and tempoary at best. If a loss does occur your ins co will use your value compared with their own maket averages to determine a payout.

[pennman]

Thanks that will have to do. I just wanted to make sure I have the right coverage in case of loss.