stores, do they really know what things are worth ? your experiences please !

removed account4 · Jul 22, 2015

i was recently in quebec slumming a bit in the old city. i hadn't been there in a more than a decade
and it was great to see what had changed and what had stayed the same.
anyhoo, i was in an antique store poking about and saw some beautiful ancient stereo views and a hand held
stereo-opticon ( the hand held viewer that you slide the double/twin view photos in that makes them 3D
and the guy had something i THOUGHT was a wicked-old lens mounted on a metal lens board. it looked to me
to be a lens from the dageurrian age with a weird flip top lens cap. sadly i learned it was an ink-well ..
damn those inkwell designers ! i did manage to see a hand full of strut folders and box cameras ( all kodak )
everything i saw was beyond my means to purchase ...

the stuff was nice ... but 30-40$ for a box camera and more for a strut camera
was beyond my budget but maybe if i was looking for a decorative piece, shelf queen
or if i was on a designer or prop/stylist's budget it would have been OK

i'm still thinking of that stereo-opticon ... and i am sure i could have mounted that inkwell on one of my caemras !

any experiences you have had in high class antique stores that have thing that might not really cost that much
( i am thinking ebay or yard sales &c ) and the shoppes have high price tags on them.

[please keep bashing comment out of this thread ]oliceman:

John Koehrer · Jul 22, 2015

Hi,
I'm of the opinion that most of them think that if it's old it must be valuable. Shelf queens are a dollar a dozen on that bay thing.
Except for the common $100.00 plus instamatic or Polaroid.

paul_c5x4 · Jul 22, 2015

A fitted aluminium case with three rolls of Fuji 400 135 film, and a Polaroid SX-70 labelled up as a complete kit. Yours for only £74.95

Rick A · Jul 22, 2015

I blame TV shows like Pawn Stars, and especially American Pickers, etc. for making people think their shtuff is worth mega-bucks. We live in the real world, and don't have hollywierd clients willing to shell out ridiculous money, to have people travel around buying crap to decorate houses they don't even live in. I watched an episode of Storage Wars, and the asinine prices the "buyers" place on garbage left behind by others shocked me. I like to hit up yard sales, beat up junk box cameras going for $30 a pop and the seller won't back down or dicker.

winger · Jul 22, 2015

A few years ago, I would have said it might be the location of the shop that would influence the height of the prices, but I saw box cameras for $25-$40 in SW Iowa. And Pawn Stars, Pickers, and stories of e-bay success likely haven't helped.

jovo · Jul 22, 2015

Charitable 'thrift stores' are the least likely to know the true value of their wares. My wife has purchased silver plate vessels for her still lifes that were ridiculously undervalued by the store. It's almost like cheating to buy stuff that way, but...damn...if that's your business, learn what you need to know!!

Dan Fromm · Jul 22, 2015

Dont antique shops and such sell to decorators, not photographers?

The "its old, it must be valuable" delusion has been around for ages. I'm not sure we can blame it on reality TV or eBay.

chip j · Jul 22, 2015

I would have paid $250 for an AN neg carrier for my Durst M35 Micromat--looked for one for 30 yrs--bought a dirty but nice one from an antique store on ebay for $1!!!

pdeeh · Jul 23, 2015

jovo said:
Charitable 'thrift stores' are the least likely to know the true value of their wares.

Not true here in the UK, in my experience.

Just about any camera equipment I see in charity shops seem to be priced by referring to the highest, most wildly optimistic BIN the manager can find on eBay for the same or similar thing. Right now, for instance, there's a low-end all auto Canon SLR with tele-zoom sitting in the window of a local hospice shop priced up at £75 ... well, as they say, good luck with that.

Although, having thought about it, it's quite correct in this case that they have no idea of the "true value"

Matt Fattori · Jul 23, 2015

I recently saw a beautiful Speed Graphic in a local antique shop. The proprietor wanted $900 and wouldn't even let me touch it.

AgX · Jul 23, 2015

At any shop selling used stuff (this includes flea-market sellers, thrift-stores and even photo-shops) there will be some item far overpriced of what I easily can find elsewhere. One reason I guess is that they do not know about that specific item.

BUT:
What counts is the price finally paid. Thus the very price paid at that location.

Thus price is something volatile.

And is there nobody amongst you who once bought something used at a price he considered far over the top for something "of that kind" or even that model, but wanted it now, or has never held it in hand before and thought chances low that he ever would?

darkosaric · Jul 23, 2015

AgX said:
And is there nobody amongst you who once bought something used at a price he considered far over the top for something "of that kind" or even that model, but wanted it now, or has never held it in hand before and thought chances low that he ever would?

Me. I spend on polaroid cameras and polaroid and impossible films enough to buy one nice Leica M body. But I told myself: if I don't use polaroids - one day I will be sorry. Life is short, and as we say in Germany: "last suit does not have pockets" * - once when you are gone, no money goes on afterlife with you .

* "Im letzten Anzug gibt es keine Taschen"

removed-user-1 · Jul 23, 2015

jnanian said:
any experiences you have had in high class antique stores that have thing that might not really cost that much ... and the shoppes have high price tags on them.

My experience lately has been that high class antique stores don't bother much with cameras anymore. The places where I still see a fair number of cameras are more accurately called "junk shops" (I mean that in the most positive sense possible). The prices are all over the map; I've paid very low prices for really nice gear, and I've seen moldy Polaroid folders with $50 price tags. Caveat emptor.

pdeeh · Jul 25, 2015

To my disappointment, "junk shops" seem to have largely disappeared from the UK, or at least the bits of it I frequent. I'm guessing the increase in general wealth over the past few decades plus the growth of and ubiquity of charity shops in our high streets, plus eBay, has killed them off.

In the 70s and 80s you could always find some musty cave full of crap, presided over by a grizzled misanthrope with a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth ... où sont les neiges d'antan?

AgX · Jul 25, 2015

I see the increase of charity shops in all their variations, but also see more thrift stores.
But I do not see a difference between them from the buyer's perspective.

Also there are fleamarkets all over.

pdeeh · Jul 25, 2015

Oh charity shops over here are now pretty much properly organised commercial enterprises for the charities concerned.
They are often properly shopfitted, have as many if not more new things as old, the latter mostly clothing.
The days when they had boxes full of old cameras of all sorts to sort through are gone.

stores, do they really know what things are worth ? your experiences please !

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