O.K. So what do you do with this?

[pbjwilson]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lionel-Set-1549-1615-Loco-w-Frt-Cars-SEALED-SET_W0QQitemZ6050892395QQcategoryZ4146QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

So lets say you have some extra cash layin around and you just have to have this set. Do you open it? Do you put the unopened box on a shelf and ooh and ahh over it? How much of the value is lost if you tear open the box and give it a test run?

Me, I would never buy such a thing. I'd worry about scratches and ripping a box flap.

[gvdobler]

That's cause you're not a collector at heart, you're an operator. I have quite a number of items that have never been opened. Yes the value would go down if you opened this set. It would go down if you never ran it but lost the box. Many people made the mistake of throwing the boxes away that would have kept value on certain collector items.

We have a "girls" set in the family that is new in the box. Lionel made a set with pastel colors thinking that girls would flock to the hobby. They didn't, but our set is worth a few bucks more than my Dad paid for it in the fifties. I would never dream of opening the set up and running it. Now, what we'll ever do with it I don't know, but it looks cool in the box.

Luckily there are many different types of people in the hobby.

[mitchelr]

Wow!!!! That is the original set I got for Christmas in 1956. I still have it. As a matter of fact, I ran the loco and tender today. I know it is not on as good a shape as the one selling on e-Bay.

Seeing something like that set unopened after 50 years makes me wonder how and why it is still unopened after this many years. Was it stuck on a shelf in a storeroom, locked away in a closet or in somebody's basement all these years? Was it a gift someone didn't want or didn't like?

What a neat find. Thanks for sharing it.

Mitch[:)]

PS I will not be bidding[:(] Although I will be watching the auction.[:D]

[1688torpedo]

Why buy it if you cannot open it? Makes no sense to me.Your house could catch fire & then the value of such a train would really go down fast. Might as well enjoy it if you buy this or any other train sealed or unsealed. Take Care.

[Poppa_Zit]

Anyone who bought an item like this would never open it to avoid spoiling the "value."

On the other hand, how would a buyer know the box in a "sealed container" auction doesn't contain a few bricks instead of a train set? You could x-ray it, but only after you bought it...

I would also like to say that I have won several auctions (for Flyonel items) from the seller in this particular auction and from my experience he is perfectly legitimate.

[pbjwilson]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Poppa_Zit

Anyone who bought an item like this would never open it to avoid spoiling the "value."

Thats what I am thinking as well. So you put this on a shelf and admire the cardboard?

[cnw1995]

I guess you'd know what's in it. Like those CTT articles that show a deep knowledge of the various types of car X. I'm intrigued by them and the fact that someone's collected all of them. However my personal preference would be to run the heck out of 'em. Guess as much as I enjoy obtaining trolleys, the fact that I like to run them make me more of an operator than collector. I don't know...

[Jumijo]

I think anyone who buys this isn't doing so to admire it. They are buying it as an investment. In a strange way, I think it's pretty cool. Think about it. That box was sealed up over 50 years ago. The people who made the trains inside and packed it up are almost all passed on by now. Who among them had even an inkling that they would be the last people to ever see or touch these items in over 1/2 a century? What could the odds possibly be that a train set this old has never been opened? Staggering to me. It really is.

A guy at a hobby shop I frequent told me this story once. Someone he knew bought a bunch of old Aurora model kit boxes at a warehouse auction a short while back. The boxes were for kits that, if MIB, would be worth a lot of money. So the guy put a few pieces of old plastic sprue in each box and had them all cellofaned. He was selling them at model shows for huge money, never dreaming that someone would actually open one. Well, someone did and he was bagged! You just never know.

Jim

[FJ and G]

I believe that the collectors of these unopened boxes take X-rays of the boxes and then sit and admire the X-rays for hours.

Usually, in their wills, they request the unopened box be placed beside them in their caskets so they can be near their mint, never-opened box.[:D]

(nothing wrong with doing that; just a different way of enjoying the hobby; not my bag but not knocking it either)

[johnandjulie13]

Not being a collector either, I have the same quandry. I would dearly love to play with a "brand new" 1956 train set. Obviously, that privelige becomes very expensive when you have collectors also bidding on the item.

This seems to be no different than wine collectors who will buy cases of wine and store them for years and years with the hopes of reselling them at a higher price and never knowing whether the wine has turned into vinegar.

Regards,

John

[Jumijo]

Just because the train set has never been opened and run, doesn't mean it's mint. Depending on where that box has been stored, that train might have 50 years of rust on it. The box appears to be in great shape, but humidity could have done some damage to the train. Like wine turning to vinegar.

Jim

[Anonymous]

I do agree with Jim and Mitch that there is something extremely fascinating about this. There's something quite amazing about a train set that has remained unopened for fifty years. It's stuck in a time warp, the decades not having aged it. That's incredibly fascinating!

I'm a collector and boxes and condition are things that I value greatly. However, I wouldn't buy this set. As fascinating as it is, it's just a box and you can't even see what's inside. Now, if I had such a set, I would never be so stupid as to open it. I would sell it.

However, I do actually own two vintage train sets that have never been opened. These are both HO sets made by the Japanese toy company Toy Nomura in the 1960's. However, there is one important difference betwen these sets and the Lionel one on ebay. They are sealed in celophane and the contents of both sets are clearly visible. I can actually look at them and admire them, still brand new, unravished after forty years.

[crip]

I could not stop myself form opening it!

[palallin]

This reminds me of the story in CTT a few years ago about the guy opening several sealed, mint Standard Gauge Blue Comet cars in order to choose a matched set. Talk about expensive razor cuts! I'm not the kind of collector who would buy sealed stuff--I run EVERYTHING. But I understand and appreciate the situation, and I have to admit just a bit of envy.

[Dave Farquhar]

If I had one that was unopened, or mint and never run, I wouldn't open or run it--like others said, to preserve the value. If you can afford to buy one of those, you can afford to buy a duplicate that has been run, and use it for running.

I don't have the budget for that (nor do most of the people here, I expect) so most of us buy stuff to run.

I have heard of items like this being accompanied by an x-ray, so you can see what's actually in the box.

[Anonymous]

You could always use it for a door stop, or paper weight....................Tim

[csxt30]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Dave Farquhar

If I had one that was unopened, or mint and never run, I wouldn't open or run it--like others said, to preserve the value. If you can afford to buy one of those, you can afford to buy a duplicate that has been run, and use it for running.

Dave: I think you have the best idea of all so far !! I always liked the idea of layout in the basement with a hobby shop setting, & you could have all the unopened ones on shelves & sets like them to run on the layout, & would be a real nice converation peice !
Thanks,

[Jumijo]

I read an article in an old CTT that had the author buying an unopened Build-A-Loco motor or something like that. He opened it and put it together after close to 60 years of it sitting unopened. Said it ran fine. I couldn't do it.

Dave makes a great point. Whoever can afford this can afford a duplicate to run. Everyone gets their enjoyment from this hobby in their own way. If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong.

Jim

[darianj]

OK...So you Buy IT, Sell it, Buy it, Sell it...It goes up in value...Buy it....Sell it.....Where does it end? If that's all that is done with it, it become nothing but a piece of old cardboard. It might as well be a stock certificate.

I know I'm not a true collector. If I had money to burn, I crack that box open as soon as I possibly could. Reminds me of the movie "Brewster's Millions" when Richard Pryor's character bought a $1M stamp, then used it to mail a postcard.

[Buckeye Riveter]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jaabat

If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong.

[#ditto]

[FJ and G]

well, I suppose you could run it in the box as oversized freight on a large flatcar. [:D]

[andregg1]

Hi to all
depend who buy the item.
Collector= Keep for show to the rest of us
Bussines man= Buy for resale in a few years for more money
Operator (like me)= Open and enjoy the brand new item.(Need to remove the old grease first, so the value is " ")
So the value for each one is absolutly diferent.
Value like scence
value like money
Value like enjoyment.
Andre.

[cnw1995]

In an old magazine, I saw an article on Angela Trotter something or other - I forgot her name - she advertises those prints and paintings featuring cherub-faced youngsters ogling toy trains - she had the basement set up like a hobby shop with boxed sets, display racks and a huge painting of kids looking in on the shop as if through a store window. It's like those people who collect the Lionel displays

[palallin]

Angela Trotta Thomas, and the display was very well done. At least one other article on a similar basement hobby shop recreation has appeared, this one having first been created as a museum display by a couple who collect the little things: boxed accessories and replacement parts and blister-packaged add-ons. Fantastically expensive for what they are.

[cnw1995]

That was her name! Rather than hijack this thread - I'll start a new one on basement museums

[Dave Farquhar]

I like what Jim said. Some people like running trains and the rest is secondary. Ditto for scenery. Some of the best scratchbuilders don't even have a layout, they just build what they enjoy building and display it. Some people like the challenge of collecting so they'll collect things that most people would never imagine collecting--like never-opened sets, or all of the variants of the Marx 556 caboose (average value about $5).

Just about the coolest thing about this hobby is that if you get bored with one aspect of it (or just can't afford it for now), you can shift your focus to another.

And if there's part of it you don't like, chances are you can work around it.

As for me, I'm a preservationist. I know all of my trains will be around a lot longer than I will be. So I don't want to do something to a piece that will hinder someone else's enjoyment of it. Since everything I own has been run before, I run it so it'll stay in running order. If it's broken, I fix it. If I don't have the right parts, I fix it with what I do have and wait for better parts to come around (it always happens). If it's a really common piece in beater condition, I'll customize it. My goal is to do no harm, and hopefully sometimes I can make something better.

Doug and John showed a great way to make preserved artifacts like unopened sets and dealer displays enjoyable.

[More to restore]

Although I fully agree what has been said by Jim, Dave and others on the various characters that are in this hobby, I still wonder how can somebody stow away a beautiful toy train set away fo such a long time and not play with it. That feels to me like giving a child a candy and telling him that he can not eat it. Unbearable cruel (for me).
Maybe it was lack of interest in toy trains?
Anyway, I am glad that there are so many different people in the hobby, it causes some nice surprises from time to time...