Trying to assess value of my Fathers Colection?


J

joe84780

New Member
Good Afternoon,

I'm hoping to get a bit of information or pointed in the right direction. My elderly father is in a nursing home and I'm tasked with going through and disposing of his belongings. My father has always been a model railroad enthusiest and over the years has amassed a small collection of HO scale items. Unfortunately it was a dream never realized to build his railroad.

He has about 7 boxes full of HO scale building kits dating from the 70's-2000's. Mixed in are about 10 locomotives. I have no clue as to the value of these items if any nor how to go about selling them. I live in Sacramento, CA and called a local model railroad store to ask them. They didn't seem interested in looking at the items and basically told me these items don't get better with age and probably aren't worth much. Not sure what to do with these items. If they have any value, I would like to sell them to help pay for his care. I've attached some photos of the items to help give you guys an idea of what I've got. Any help you can give me would be much appreciated. Thanks.

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Joe, From the pictures it appears your father bought quality items. There are 2 Fine Scale Miniatures kits, a coaling tower and a sawmill. These are craftsman level kits and many FSM kits were limited production and sought out by collectors. You certainly won't get rich from them but they do have a value. With a few exceptions the engines and the rest of the buildings and kits should have a reasonable value based on their age and brand names.
 
I would suggest researching on ebay through completed items for an idea of what people have paid in the past. As someone pointed out, there are some Fine Scale Miniature (FSM) models, as well as some Scale Structure Limited (SSL). Depending on the kit, these can go upwards of $400, but a little research on your part will go a long way to determining a price...

Or, I'll give you $100 for the whole lot :D
 
kfh227 said:
Does the fact that these are essentially new in box drive up the value?
Click to expand...

Obviously a new in the box item would be worth more than a used of the same thing. The FSM & SS Ltd kits should be the most valuable and depending on their rarity often bring much more than the original retail price.

The Atlas, Athearn, and Kato engines shown in their boxes are the older type standard DC. Current technology and popularity is leaning toward DCC equipped or DCC ready engines of those and other manufacturers and ultra fine details so an older DC only engine with lesser details, as was the usual for the Atlas and Athearns back then, at best might bring from 60% to maybe, maybe.. 80% of its original retail price unless it is a limited production offering. Those plain grey plastic undecorated are not in that limited production range. Average mfr retail price of Atlas and Athearn blue box locos of the era was @ $25 - $35 with the undecs usually a few dollars less than that. The Walthers Proto 2000 engines should be easy enough to estimate a value by checking on http://www.walthers.com/ and searching by mfgr and HO scale unless they are long since out of production with no recent re-releases. You can also check that web site for Kato engines. When checking what you have if the box doesn't say DCC equipped or DCC ready then the loco is standard DC only.

You might get some idea by reading through the first few pages in this forum under the FOR SALE listings and "HO Engines for sale" posted by BigB. He listed and sold a ton of stuff and it was fairly priced all around.

Selling the full lot to a dealer might appear the quick and easy way out but would probably net you the smallest amount of cash. A lot to consider. A local train hobbiest who has been involved since the days of the yellow box Atlas and blue box Athearns might give you a more realistic evaluation on a piece by piece basis. That is what Brad did for a friend in the listing I mentioned.
 
Joe did you have any ideas yet as to what kind of price you might want I would be interested in buying the whole collection

thanks mike
 
I know members on here would be interested in some of that stuff. wink wink.

Would you sell the chopper 2? Also could you get close up pic of that diesel engine house in the second to last picture? And whats in those small black boxes?
 
I'm down the road from you in Stockton, let me know what you might want for the whole lot as well as individual prices, as I would be interested.
 
First, sorry to hear of your father's decline in health.

You are not the first, nor will you be the last to have to dispose of a parent's collection of unknown value and know nothing about it.

The problem with trying to evaluate something like that is that the items are only worth what someone is willing to pay. Just because something is old doesn't make it valuable unless it is a specific collector's item and a collector is willing to pay for it. You may have a few kits there that are valuable in the few hundreds...but only if someone wants to pay that for them.

Ebay may be great for driving up prices on special items, but can also rip you off if you have something you don't know is valuable- to someone willing to pay for it. List items individually there, and be sure youknow what shipping costs and other fees are so your costs don't get eaten up in the pricing.You still need a starting price point. a one cent sale to start can mean you give away a hundred dollar item for 5 bucks

Try checking out any Model Railroad clubs in your area...the hobby shops generally are not interested in trying to dispose of someone's {used} fleet as even New In Box, they, like a car have lost value once sold, and most hobby shops will only warrantee something new they got from the dealer thay can return it to so they don't loose out. Only few items in the MRR world grow in value...

ALso conditions in which they were stored {in an attic? in a moldy musty basement or garage?} can affect what the pieces have done in storage, and therefore their value. A wood kits like FSM can warp and be of less value if stored in a musty or damp place for example. You need to list what condition the NIB is..

Bundling things together as a "lot" like the boxes you show above can help to force the sale of the less desireable items with the more valuable items. What you have there looks to be the better quality items of the time.
Check with the hobby shop to find the nearest MR clubs and see if they are interested.

Another idea is to type into google the brand, name and Scale {looks all HO scale} of the product and see what comes up. You might get ideas from there as to value. for example type in "HO scale Proto Series 2000 F2A locomotive value" and see what you get for information.You may have to wade through a lot of stuff to find a value.

You can list the items here in the "For sale section" here on this forum If you like, but don't list with a "best offer" sign, You have to have a starting negotiating point.
It is a lot of work to research and value items. As stated, DCC is the newer thing, but many are still into DC, which your offerings are. SO don't be discouraged by that. And some will buy and convert the DC stuff to DCC if they get a good deal on it or wnat it enough.

Check with local auction houses to see if they have a resident expert on MR items who can evaluate the items for you. Then check into auctioning it off.

lastly, maybe advertise the whole collection for a negotiable price in the back classifieds of a Model Railroad magazine and see if you get a bidder, OR look there for those who buy whole collections and will deal with you fairly...

And yes, What is in those black boxes???
Hope you succeed well, but don't count on the collection to pay much of your fathers nursing home bill. It isn't THAT valuable.
:)
 
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