Rare TYCO Brass???

[marknewton]

I imagine that many eBay dealers wouldn't regard your efforts as help. They'd think you were trying to rip them off, or at least get something for nothing.

My impression is that a lot of them regard ripping people off as their exclusive privilege.!

[Tilden]

Hey, it sold for $105.  Maybe somebody knows something we don't?

 Tilden

[wjstix]

Just a side note, there's a big difference between a "brass locomotive" (an engine hand made in Asia, entirely or almost entirely in brass, and extremely well detailed) and a kit engine that has a brass boiler and other parts. Many kits years ago had brass as a primarly element but weren't "brass locomotives" in the true sense of the term. I think this was an early kit with brass parts from maybe the thirties-forties that was in a Tyco box?? Brass imports didn't start until the late fifties IIRC.

[vsmith]

Hey, it sold for $105.  Maybe somebody knows something we don't?

 Tilden

Maybe something about one being born every minute???

[SteamFreak]

I'm tempted to shoot the buyer a message after 10 days or so to see if he has any idea what the heck it really is. Loathar started this mystery, and I want to know the answer.

Maybe I should hit my old Mantua with some gold spray paint, then take photos from a distance.

[richg1998]

I sent a question a couple days ago and he said he would let me know. I am curious also.

Yes I know, I should be working on my layout, something constructive. 

 

Rich 

[CNJ831]

I'm tempted to shoot the buyer a message after 10 days or so to see if he has any idea what the heck it really is. Loathar started this mystery, and I want to know the answer.

Maybe I should hit my old Mantua with some gold spray paint, then take photos from a distance.

Do so and you're likely to get plenty of bids! After the buyer receives it though, it could be another story.

The misrepresentation that goes on on eBay, intentional or otherwise, is simply terrible. Likewise, there are so many totally naive buyers pursuing eBay that it boggles the mind.

Years back I always considered model railroaders a pretty intelligent, well informed bunch. However, with the coming of the Internet and seeing what folks post, I've since dropped that opinion. A perfect example is in what they will buy blind. A while back, I saw a very common 1950's Mantua 0-4-0 four car freight set, honestly worth perhaps $20, go for nearly $300 on eBay simply because the seller claimed, without any substantiation whatever, that it had been on display at the 1939 NY World's Fair. In fact, that particular Mantua loco and set didn't even appear until the 1950's! There were at least a dozen high dollar bids for the item and I'm almost sure the buyer is still going around telling folks he owns a unique, priceless, piece of model railroading's history. Yup, there's one born every minute!

CNJ831

[rrebell]

I'm tempted to shoot the buyer a message after 10 days or so to see if he has any idea what the heck it really is. Loathar started this mystery, and I want to know the answer.

Maybe I should hit my old Mantua with some gold spray paint, then take photos from a distance.

Do so and you're likely to get plenty of bids! After the buyer receives it though, it could be another story.

The misrepresentation that goes on on eBay, intentional or otherwise, is simply terrible. Likewise, there are so many totally naive buyers pursuing eBay that it boggles the mind.

Years back I always considered model railroaders a pretty intelligent, well informed bunch. However, with the coming of the Internet and seeing what folks post, I've since dropped that opinion. A perfect example is in what they will buy blind. A while back, I saw a very common 1950's Mantua 0-4-0 four car freight set, honestly worth perhaps $20, go for nearly $300 on eBay simply because the seller claimed, without any substantiation whatever, that it had been on display at the 1939 NY World's Fair. In fact, that particular Mantua loco and set didn't even appear until the 1950's! There were at least a dozen high dollar bids for the item and I'm almost sure the buyer is still going around telling folks he owns a unique, priceless, piece of model railroading's history. Yup, there's one born every minute!

CNJ831

Hey only partialy wrong, one of the founders of mantua designed one of the buildings at that worlds fair, think that building was train related too.

[richg1998]

Here is what I just received from the buyer. Did not say anything about Tyco.

Hello

She arrived today .

As promised, here is what it is : a
partially built very early brass kit of a 4-8-2, probably Tenshodo as there
is a sticker on the plain cardboard box that says Early Tenshodo 1954 or
1959 signed by Emil Pindzola? no name on the blue print which says Missouri
Pacific Line 4-8-2 and is very basic, the extensive instruction sheets
refer to a 2-8-2 Mikado and are Mantua instruction sheet N° 142 , 19/49 -
kit N° : 208, there is also a MDC price list dated July 1st 1954 .

Most
parts are brass, the engine trailing axle is bronze, there are two six
wheel brass Commonwealth bogies for the tender that are brighter than the
rest, engine is the usual early japanese open frame type, transmission via
a dark red rubber tube . 

 Rich

[loathar]

Thanks for the update! Sounds like someone might have got a deal for $105. If I had the $$, I would have bid on it just to see what it was.

[R. T. POTEET]

By gosh! it is a Knapp unit!! They frequently hide in Tenshodo boxes! Embarrassment, I suppose!!!

[SteamFreak]

I never heard of Knapp, so I Googled them and came up with this info. Scroll down to 'Knapp Electric.' It was made in 1938.

http://railroad.union.rpi.edu/article.php?article=2594

[steamnut]

Another example of a seller ignorant of what they are offering. From the mediocre photo this has every appearance of being a genuine piece of brass and it is just possible that the winner got a good bargain. But it certainly ain't Tyco and it certainly ain't mint or anywhere near, and the seller probably lacks the knowledge to answer questions accurately. While I note that the seller has a virtually unconditional return offer, you'd still be out round trip shipping.

[R. T. POTEET]

I never heard of Knapp, so I Googled them and came up with this info. Scroll down to 'Knapp Electric.' It was made in 1938.

SteamFreak, I had never heard of Knapp either until the name was injected into this topic about three weeks ago; I never did google the name to find out what might be said about it but I was led to believe that they were one of the more significant manufacturers of the 1930s and, since they didn't cease production until 1945, they were, apparently the only manufacturer allowed to continue manufacturing model locomotives out of strategic metals during Big Brawl Two. I have been tugging on the chain of this individual who brought up the name since he first did so.

[SteamFreak]

SteamFreak, I had never heard of Knapp either until the name was injected into this topic about three weeks ago; I never did google the name to find out what might be said about it but I was led to believe that they were one of the more significant manufacturers of the 1930s and, since they didn't cease production until 1945, they were, apparently the only manufacturer allowed to continue manufacturing model locomotives out of strategic metals during Big Brawl Two. I have been tugging on the chain of this individual who brought up the name since he first did so.

Since this thread started almost a month ago I didn't remember that they were mentioned, and it wouldn't stick with me anyway since it's not a name I recognized. Interesting bit of history, though. I wonder what it's true value is. Anyone hazard a guess?

[R. T. POTEET]

SteamFreak, I had never heard of Knapp either until the name was injected into this topic about three weeks ago; I never did google the name to find out what might be said about it but I was led to believe that they were one of the more significant manufacturers of the 1930s and, since they didn't cease production until 1945, they were, apparently the only manufacturer allowed to continue manufacturing model locomotives out of strategic metals during Big Brawl Two. I have been tugging on the chain of this individual who brought up the name since he first did so.

Since this thread started almost a month ago I didn't remember that they were mentioned, and it wouldn't stick with me anyway since it's not a name I recognized. Interesting bit of history, though. I wonder what it's true value is. Anyone hazard a guess?

SteamFreak, don't take my comment seriously since I am exercising a little bit of levity this afternoon.

Without giving it too much thought at the time I think that Wills mentioned Knapp in one of his Colletor's Consist columns in RMC; this unit is not a Knapp, it is most likely in a Tenshodo box because it is a Tenshodo. The apparent rarity of Knapp units would infer that they are worth a great deal more money than this Tenshodo(?) unit went for. Even at one hundred and five dollars somebody just got themselves a real bargain!!! Even if this model never becomes more than a still feature on the mantelpiece it will still be a conversation-instigator!!!

[SteamFreak]

SteamFreak, don't take my comment seriously since I am exercising a little bit of levity this afternoon.

Without giving it too much thought at the time I think that Wills mentioned Knapp in one of his Colletor's Consist columns in RMC; this unit is not a Knapp, it is most likely in a Tenshodo box because it is a Tenshodo. The apparent rarity of Knapp units would infer that they are worth a great deal more money than this Tenshodo(?) unit went for. Even at one hundred and five dollars somebody just got themselves a real bargain!!! Even if this model never becomes more than a still feature on the mantelpiece it will still be a conversation-instigator!!!

Ah. Got ya. It's Friday.

But even if that unit were a Knapp that cluck seller would have still sold it as a Tyco and lost out on beaucoup $$.

[R. T. POTEET]

richg1998's 8:55am response is illuminating and casts considerable light on why this post took some of the turns it did since originated by loathar back when Custer was a plebe at The Point. We can conclude the following from his posted response:

1. The seller's misidentification of this unit as a Tyco brass locomotive gives credence to the fact that he or she was not a model railroader - this particular locomotive likely came into the seller's possession through either benevolence or inheritence; and

2. the seller's faulty identification can be attributed to the refutable documents found in the box which the seller erroneously concluded identified the unit as a Tyco; a person with some railroad knowledge could/would also have recognized that the 2-8-2 identification on one of these documents did not match the true identification of the unit i.e. a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement.

Whatever might be the truth of the matter whoever the buyer might be he or she came up with a windfall on this one!!!