H.O. Collectibles

[Anonymous]

I have a friend who has in his possession a complete H.O. layout including buildings, engines, cars, etc. These were all owned by his father and date back to the 60's, maybe earlier. He has no interest in keeping these and was wondering if there is a market for the older H.O. trains and if so what kind of value could he place on each item before he puts the entire lot up for sale.
He is located in Lititz, PA

[Anonymous]

Too broad a question. Should have manufacturer's names, types of engines and cars, condition, whether they come with original boxes, etc. Some stuff may be of interest to collectors but you would have to supply more info.

Bob Boudreau

[IRONROOSTER]

You might want to check ebay and see what different things are selling for. In general there is not much of a collectors market for HO, except for engines and cars made of brass and a few limited run items. There will be some interest in the equipment and buildings depending on condition.

This page http://www.guesswork.com/~stev/NMRA-valuation.html on the NMRA's site may help.

Enjoy
Paul

[CNJ831]

Except in the case of brass locomotives and rolling stock, the interest in 40 year old HO equipment is relatively minor. Unless the items are highly unusual and in perfect running order, tell your friend not to expect to get much more than $.50 on the dollar of what similar (or identical) items are selling for today. None of the stuff of this vintage ran very well without some tinkering and after 40 years will probably need quite a bit of attention to cleaning and lubing just to run continuously at all.

As others have advised, a detailed examination of eBay's selling prices is the best way to gain some idea on interest in, and value of, these items. Individual items would also sell much better than putting up the entire collection as a lot. This latter situation generally seems to return $.10 on the dollar or less.

CNJ831

[Anonymous]

If the price is right are you going to be purchasing it? If so the cheaper the better of course. Offer $150 for the lot of it and go from there. You may have a pile of junk but there may be a few pieces of gold among the mess.

[Anonymous]

hey man,
always looking to buy older stuff, what does he ahve and does it run or not and where are ya located, tell me more tell me more tell me more. Let me know about pics and types and etc, again always willing ot buy older stuff.

[Anonymous]

i will offer fair price and am willing to travel