£15,000 for a Bridgeport!

Well at least you don't need a big workshop for this one.

Plenty of other interesting models and tooling going under the hammer, worth a look through the lots.

Note the commission rate 30%!!

That one has been in Model Engineer on several occasions. I think it won the DoE.

Neil

Anyone know how Mr Jordan is these days? Hope he is still around.

Re the 30% commission - just think of all the hard heavy work the auction house would have had to put into the photos and description, and arranging a sale room venue.......er....... maybe NOT so much effort! Hose the client until they can bear no more! Mind you anyone who can pony up 15,000 UK pounds for such a model might not need the 30% for weiners and beans next week.

If you think this sort of sale price / commission is out of whack, have a look at vintage motorcycles - the Vincent and Brough ones are going for over 100,000 UK pounds these days. Absurd, and only for the very very rich.

It looks like many/most of his model machines are in the auction, but mainly with reserves of £2-3000.

Whilst the Bridgeport is more complex, I wonder if there is a typo, of the auctioneers already have had contact with some interested parties.

Bill

Would want at least half a dozen full size ones for that money

It is not only the buyer who pays commission, 15% of the hammer price for the vendor is normal. Niko.

There are certainly some nice models listed, locos, traction and quite a few stationary. I realise the prices are guide only but surprised how low some of the stationary models are when you consider what goes into some of them. I guess it must be down to how much or how little demand there is for them.

if it's the same aucioneers I was gonna use it's not the end of the price fixing....and there are others.......

(buyer beware, not the items it's the machine auctioneers)......

and they charge for everything.....

what I was looking at ended up with fees almost double......

and u can only move the items on their timescale......

forget em......better wait and buy privately.....

the more people buy from these clowns the more they can get away with......

I'd like a new Merc and a Learjet for me hols........but then some of us have to ACTUALLY work for a living.......

This auction house is Japanese owned. The fees have been going up to mad levels. But 30% on top the hammer price and taking 15% from the buyer plus 1.5% insurance, then cost per picture. They are on a real winner. The only losers are the sellers. But what I find odd is that buyers are happy to buy from auctions, yet moan at the prices asked by sellers, selling their own items. I know a fellow club member who tried to sell is locomotive on a number of sites, with little interest bar from dealers trying to beg it. He placed it in auction, it sold for a much higher price then he was asking. The buyer had to pay a lot more, and the seller got less after all the fees. All very odd really.

From memory, the Bridgeport was the second of his exquisite creations, the first being the !/5th(?) scale Merlin. That model I first saw as a large aluminium billet at the ME show and finally saw (and heard) it running at the similar some years later. I remember he had a display board of rejected parts including the valve collets, each about little fingernail size - 96 required! For me the most striking aspect was the working constant speed prop - truly a work of art!

rgds

Bill

I think it was Barry Hares who made the Merlin. He also made a RR Eagle (sleeve valve, 24 cylinder) to a similar standard. The only other working Merlin I know of was by Anthony Walshaw, the son of Tom (Tubal Cain).

Another thing to watch out for is VAT, on private sales at an auction vat is only due on the auctioneers commission,at auctions of a commercial nature,say for instance a factory sale,where all the machine tools and other items where vat claimed in the past,vat at 20% is due on both the bid price and the commission price,can be expensive. cash private sale can still be the best deal.Read the small print in the catalogue before bidding. a buyers premium of 25 to 30 % is pure greed by the auctioneers.

just looked at a Stuart No 1 in the sale catague top estimate £500 ,set of raw castings plus material from stuarts is £600 what do you make of that.

Not unusual for stationary engines to sell for less than the cost of the castings. Collectors like IC engines and locos.

Nigel B - Many thanks! Quite correct, of course! 'Senior moments' are becoming routine - unfortunately!

rgds

Bill

I can think of much worse ways to spend £15,000. I am sure the model will give the new owner plenty of pleasure and satisfaction.

What fascinated me is that the lathe is almost exactly the same size as my Sieg SC3 - I found that hard to determine just from the picture.

But not this one **LINK**

at 2400 Pounds on eBay.

Fabulous old antique model engine though. Took me a second look to figure how the valve gear is actuated. No eccentric! Very different indeed.

But 2400 quid?