All the gear, no idea

Hi everyone. My dad was a model engineer subscriber, enthusiast and retired design engineer. Sadly he past away in January this year. He eft all of his possessions to my mum. She's asked me to help clear out his workshop but we're really worried about under-valuing some his stuff and don't want people just to try and buy cheap to sell on and profit from the situation. Happy for it to go for really reasonable prices, but want the equipment to go to good homes and people who will make good use of it and continue to create amazing things. The problem is we haven't got a clue what most of the stuff is or what it's worth, so I'm reaching out to this community in the hope that there are genuine people that can help guide us on the best way to deal with it all. He has hundreds of old copies of Model Engineer so figured that it would be a good place to start. I've got some photos of some of the things we've been left. I've a rough idea about some of them from looking on Ebay, but I'm not sure if that is the best route, and don't know what some of the models are, including the Myford lathe. I hope this is ok...if not I'm sure a moderator will tell me...please can anyone help?

Do you know if there is model engineering club nearby, if there is then one of the members may be able to call and advise you.

Phil

So sorry to hear of your Father's passing. Can you give a rough location ? County/Nearest City ? Then someone can perhaps advise if there is a local club.

As I go through my 70s and poor health I keep meaning to do a photographic record of my equipment with a description of what it is and a rough value. My Wife and Daughters have no idea other than it's "Dad's Junk" they would be happy just to see it cleared.

Matthew, I'm sorry to hear of your loss. It's a wretched business disposing of someone's treasured posessions, and even worse when you don't really know what you're dealing with. This is a problem that comes up fairly frequently on this forum. Model engineers' clubs can almost certainly be relied on to assist, but my experience (in NZ and UK) is that model engineers are a stingy loty. I have got many bargains, but have at the same time been saddened by the low prices achieved at club disposal sales. You'll find a good home, but perhaps not a good price.

Perhaps there's an opportunity for this forum to offer some sort of identification and valuation service for this scenario. You really need people who have no vested interest in the equipment, but who know the local market. I suppose the 'Bay sets prices, realistically.

If using eBay to judge prices, make sure that you refer to some prices and not unrealistically high asking or best offer prices. Good luck.

If you use the advanced search on Ebay you can see the actual price items sold for.

Tony

Hi Matthew

Sorry for your loss, it might be worth considering using Tony Griffiths of Lathes.co.uk to advertise the machines for you, if you send clear pictures of the machines and their accessories to him he will identify the items, value them and draft an advertisement for you and run it on his website. I believe the charge is about £40 + vat for each machine, less for smaller items. I've sold a couple of machines easily through his site. Also a few years ago we cleared a friends workshop which contained clockmaking and ornamental turning machinesand accessories, odd things beyond my experience, and without Tony's help I think we would have raised much less than we did, a machine tool dealer did make an absolute paltry offerof a few hundred pounds which is what prompted us to contact Tony.  In the end we raised several thousand, no connection but did find his services worthwhile .

Dave

If you email him it's best to phone as well he tends to miss emails I think he's pretty busy.

Edited By Dave Wootton on 07/04/2021 08:37:25

Hi Matthew

Sorry for your loss. Most of us on this forum will have thought about what happens when our loved ones need to dispose of a life time’s collection. Often the small tooling can be worth at least as much as many of the machine tools.

I agree with Kiwi Bloke - the Bay effectively sets the price; if you sell that way, the auction sell price is usually it’s worth.

If you have the inclination, identifying what the tools are and selling the individual tools and machines that way would be my personal recommendation to get a good price. Perhaps ask on this forum for identification of difficult bits.

Cheers Will

I don't have any family and shall leave the content of my workshop to the Society of Model & Experimental Engineers when I die. That way I trust that the items will go to somebody who will enjoy using them and the Society will gain some benefit.

MC

It's worth using lahes.co as a price-guide first anyway , rather than generalists like E-bay.

'

I'm preparing an inventory and have bequeathed all except the models to my two clubs for their benefit - as the models are potentially the most valuable financially I want the family to benefit from them though would expect the clubs to handle their sales.

Not all clubs are stingy, thank you! We have had bereavement sales in my own club, organised by one or two members who liaise with the families and who make it clear they expect sensible offers. I think the models have tended to go for auction or other sale by specialists like Station Road Steam. (Anecdotally, household auctioneers can be out of their depth, listing all models irrespective of nature as "Models and Toys", which might devalue them.) The last few bits and pieces left over - random pieces of metal, small tools, thing that look useful - are usually then bundled up and brought to the club, along with a donations tin.

The hardest items to sell may be the machine-tools by their weight and bulk. If private ads on a forum like this, the magazines or lathes.co don't bear fruit then you might have no choice but to use one of the workshop-clearance firms who advertise in ME & MEW, and accept being paid little for the plant. Maybe even less by collection distance.

One point about using a society in your own will, is to be prepared for the possibility, however remote, of the club itself no longer existing by your own time. I have given association-addresses as a precaution, and for my other hobbies, as well as model-engineering.

Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to reply and for your helpful advice. Some great ideas and suggestions. Some of the models he made I know he'd want to go to good homes, and the tools and machinery he'd want to know they got a good price. So I'll take my time to go through everything and catalogue it all with photos and take it from there using some of the ideas and links provided. I may come back to this very helpful community when I have more details. Thank you all.