4 Jun
2011
4 Jun
'11
7:57 p.m.
The local high school physics teacher was told to clean out the lab of
all the "old junk." She has a bunch of meters that she is supposed to
dump, but she wanted to know if there was any market for "antique"
meters. I have not seen them, but the way she describes them they are
single function meters (galvanometers, AC voltmeter, DC voltmeter,
etc.) in slope from cases with binding screw terminals on top. She
thought the cases were Bakelite.
Is there any value to such things? Is there an on-line market that
might let me determine a value, if any? I know she is thinking that if
it is worth anything she can use the proceeds to buy supplies.
-chuck
4 Jun
4 Jun
8 p.m.
On 6/4/11 7:57 PM, Charles Dickman wrote:
The local high school physics teacher was told to
clean out the lab of
all the "old junk." She has a bunch of meters that she is supposed to
dump, but she wanted to know if there was any market for "antique"
meters. I have not seen them, but the way she describes them they are
single function meters (galvanometers, AC voltmeter, DC voltmeter,
etc.) in slope from cases with binding screw terminals on top. She
thought the cases were Bakelite.
Is there any value to such things? Is there an on-line market that
might let me determine a value, if any? I know she is thinking that if
it is worth anything she can use the proceeds to buy supplies.
There is a gigantic collectors' market for this type of equipment. I
have a sizable collection of it myself. Some of it goes for very high
dollars, especially Leeds Northrup and Central Scientific equipment.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
5 Jun
5 Jun
12:53 a.m.
From: mcguire at neurotica.com
On 6/4/11 7:57 PM, Charles Dickman wrote:
Hi
I have a several nice old RLC bridges. I have this really cool
one from Marconi.
I even use them every now and then.
Dwight
The local high school physics teacher was told to
clean out the lab of
all the "old junk." She has a bunch of meters that she is supposed to
dump, but she wanted to know if there was any market for "antique"
meters. I have not seen them, but the way she describes them they are
single function meters (galvanometers, AC voltmeter, DC voltmeter,
etc.) in slope from cases with binding screw terminals on top. She
thought the cases were Bakelite.
Is there any value to such things? Is there an on-line market that
might let me determine a value, if any? I know she is thinking that if
it is worth anything she can use the proceeds to buy supplies.
There is a gigantic collectors' market for this type of equipment. I
have a sizable collection of it myself. Some of it goes for very high
dollars, especially Leeds Northrup and Central Scientific equipment.
-Dave
2:19 p.m.
There is a gigantic collectors' market for this
type of equipment. I
have a sizable collection of it myself. Some of it goes for very high
dollars, especially Leeds Northrup and Central Scientific equipment.
And over here, names like Pye Unicam, Cambridge Instrument Compant, etc
But how much of that sort of stuff turns up in school labs?
-tony
2:44 p.m.
On 2011 Jun 4, at 5:00 PM, Dave McGuire wrote:
On 6/4/11 7:57 PM, Charles Dickman wrote:
We should keep in mind the source of this stuff: a high-school lab.
Sure, there's always a possibility there are some old/valuable pieces
in there that perhaps were donated to the high school some time ago,
but given the situation it's more likely to be lower-end stuff for
student/course use from the 70's-or-so and not of much value. I
wouldn't anticipate much, either in dollars as the seller or in
equipment as a collector.
The local high school physics teacher was told to
clean out the lab of
all the "old junk." She has a bunch of meters that she is supposed to
dump, but she wanted to know if there was any market for "antique"
meters. I have not seen them, but the way she describes them they are
single function meters (galvanometers, AC voltmeter, DC voltmeter,
etc.) in slope from cases with binding screw terminals on top. She
thought the cases were Bakelite.
Is there any value to such things? Is there an on-line market that
might let me determine a value, if any? I know she is thinking that if
it is worth anything she can use the proceeds to buy supplies.
There is a gigantic collectors' market for this type of equipment.
I have a sizable collection of it myself. Some of it goes for very
high dollars, especially Leeds Northrup and Central Scientific
equipment.
2:56 p.m.
On 6/5/11 2:44 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote:
We should keep in mind the source of this stuff: a
high-school lab.
Sure, there's always a possibility there are some old/valuable pieces in
there that perhaps were donated to the high school some time ago, but
given the situation it's more likely to be lower-end stuff for
student/course use from the 70's-or-so and not of much value. I wouldn't
anticipate much, either in dollars as the seller or in equipment as a
collector.
The majority of the high-end stuff coming to the surface these days
is coming out of long-forgotten storerooms in colleges. A lot of that
stuff got donated to high schools decades ago, and so shows up there as
well. Good stuff showing up in high schools is nowhere near as common
as colleges, but it does happen.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
3:26 p.m.
We should keep in mind the source of this stuff: a
high-school lab. Sure,
there's always a possibility there are some old/valuable pieces in there
that perhaps were donated to the high school some time ago, but given the
situation it's more likely to be lower-end stuff for student/course use from
the 70's-or-so and not of much value. I wouldn't anticipate much, either in
dollars as the seller or in equipment as a collector.
I agree. Those sloped front cases also tend to detract from the value
of the meters. And any meters with cracked or chipped cases or glass,
open shunts and windings, peeling face paint, or needles that will not
zero, are generally worthless. Repair is easy, but I doubt she wants
to deal with repair at all.
The meter market is largely driven by the vintage audio crowd, and to
a lesser extent the ham builder crowd. They have no place for the
cases, and tend to junk them. This is also why certain ranges of
meters are good, and others are not - they basically correspond to
what the circuits are that the guys are playing with - tube filament
voltages, plate currents, and so forth.
I have sold more than 700 meters in the past 3 years. If the physics
teacher needs more advice, I can point out the ones that have
potential. Honesty, I think she should see if some local ham club
could take them off her hands and sell them at a hamfest, and maybe
get a percentage. Maybe the Boy Scouts could help.
--
Will
4 Jun
4 Jun
10:36 p.m.
On Sat, Jun 4, 2011 at 4:57 PM, Charles Dickman <chd at chdickman.com> wrote:
The local high school physics teacher was told to
clean out the lab of
all the "old junk." She has a bunch of meters that she is supposed to
dump, but she wanted to know if there was any market for "antique"
meters. I have not seen them, but the way she describes them they are
single function meters (galvanometers, AC voltmeter, DC voltmeter,
etc.) in slope from cases with binding screw terminals on top. She
thought the cases were Bakelite.
Is there any value to such things? Is there an on-line market that
might let me determine a value, if any? I know she is thinking that if
it is worth anything she can use the proceeds to buy supplies.
Huge collector market, especially in bakelite or wood cased. condition
is most everything to collectors.
There is still a lab equipment market also, check LabX auctions besides epay.
Paxton
--
Paxton Hoag
Astoria, OR
USA
10:59 p.m.
On Sat, Jun 4, 2011 at 4:57 PM, Charles Dickman
stated:
The local high school physics teacher was told to
clean out the lab of
Sigh, antique, indeed. I remember Electrical Measurements Lab with
wall galvanometers, bakelite and wood-box potentiometers, oil-bath
resistors, etc.
Heck, I spent several summers carrying around an L&N portable
potentiometer to calibrate chart recorders. Said potentiometer had a
Weston cell inside as well as a dry cell. You first set your
standard against the standard, then used your pocket thrermometer to
get the cold-junction temperature, then looked the thermocouple type
(Iron-constantan, chromel-alumel, or platinum-rhodium) up in a little
booklet and dialed in the corresonding voltage. 3 points or so for
each of hundreds of the things. You also took a bit of Windex with
you to clean the windows, a pen-cleaning wire, and a few No. 6 dry
cells (chart recorders also had Weston cells to calibrate against--
you looked at the position of the calibration slideware to see how
far gone the dry cell was) and a few silver slidewire contact beads.
It was a long hike back to the shop if you needed something else.
Most of the chart recorders were L&N Speedomax, with a few Micromax
and whole bunches of Honeywell/Brown Electronik units (tubes,
mechanical chopper amplifier).
Antiques, indeed. Good memories.
--Chuck
all the "old junk." She has a bunch of
meters that she is supposed to
dump, but she wanted to know if there was any market for "antique" >
meters. I have not seen them, but the way she describes them they are >
single function meters (galvanometers, AC voltmeter, DC voltmeter, >
etc.) in slope from cases with binding screw terminals
on top.
5 Jun
5 Jun
1:28 a.m.
Huge collector market, especially in bakelite or wood
cased. condition
is most everything to collectors.
Hmmmm...I would not call it huge. In the old radio collector world,
the old lab type test equipment is almost at the bottom of the
popularity pile. At the old radio swapfests, test equipment,
especially the lab type stuff, often ends up in the junker auctions at
the end of the day. Sometimes a very good piece can fetch a good price
on Ebay, but quite a few more generally do not do very well.
There is some good stuff. Any pieces that can be dated to before the
turn of the century are good (patent dates are not a great way to
figure this out). Any meters with cast metal cases (generally used in
power switchboards) are also good. Additionally, any sets that are in
super clean condition can fetch a good buck - but I really mean
factory-new condition.
The meters themselves have value - but only certain ones that are
marked with their actual full scale. AC voltmeters from 5 to 10 Volts,
as well as from 150 to 600 Volts. DC voltmeters above 300 Volts. DC
current meters from 25 to 500 microamps, and from 25 to 500 milliamps.
RF ammeters are good no matter what range. Round is better than
square. White face is better than black face. Weston is the favorite
brand, followed by Western Electric, Westinghouse, GE, Triplett,
Roller Smith, Burlington. Null meters are not popular.
--
Will
6:04 a.m.
On 6/5/11 1:28 AM, William Donzelli wrote:
The predictable response.
You'll find that model trains are fairly unpopular at antique
furniture swap meets as well.
The antique instrument collectors' world is pretty significant, and
quite active. They just tend not to associate much with the antique
computer collectors, and even less so with the antique radio
collectors...the latter probably because those guys keep peddling the
stuff at radio swap meets and it ends up getting trashed!
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
Huge collector
market, especially in bakelite or wood cased. condition
is most everything to collectors.
Hmmmm...I would not call it huge. In the old radio collector world,
the old lab type test equipment is almost at the bottom of the
popularity pile. At the old radio swapfests, test equipment,
especially the lab type stuff, often ends up in the junker auctions at
the end of the day. Sometimes a very good piece can fetch a good price
on Ebay, but quite a few more generally do not do very well.
2:17 p.m.
The local high school physics teacher was told to clean out the lab of
all the "old junk." She has a bunch of meters that she is supposed to
dump, but she wanted to know if there was any market for "antique"
meters. I have not seen them, but the way she describes them they are
single function meters (galvanometers, AC voltmeter, DC voltmeter,
etc.) in slope from cases with binding screw terminals on top. She
thought the cases were Bakelite.
Some gneeral comments...
A good instrument remains a good instrument in many cases. A meter tyhat
was good to <1% can be recalibrated and will still be a useful measuring
instrument. Soemthing like one of the old potentiometers (I don't mean a
3 terminal variable resisotr, I mean the manual mull-point voltmeter) or
measuring bridge is still a very useful thjing to have. In many cases the
only advantage that the latest replacemetn gives you is more rapid
readings. Which may not matter. I think we all know that just because
something is old does not mean it's useless.
There si nothing wrong with single-function instruments. I am reminded of
a comment in the 'Radio Laboratory Handbook' (M. G. Scroggie). : 'Remember
than any instrument, no matter how versatile, can only be in place place
in the circuit at any one time'. So while a multimeter is very useful,
plain voltmeters, ammeters, etc are also useful.
There are also some more specialised meters that turn up occasionally. A
moving coil wattmeter is quite a fun thing to have. So is a spot
galvanometer (which will measure down to fractions of a microamp in many
cases, somethign that nor all DMMs will manage). A ballistic
galvanometer, used to measure charge, can be useful. As can electostatic
voltmeters. The problem is that these things do not often turn up in
school labs.
Alas, a lot of school physics equipment (stuff made specifically
for schools) was and is cr*p. I bitterly remember some of the stuff we
had to sue at school, things like a 'scope with a 2" screen and a
continuously variable Y attenuator with approximate calibration markignso
n the panel. Fine for seeing a wiggly line, useless for actually
measuring anything. Meters that had linearity errors (!) of about 10%.
And so on.
There are certainly people who collect (and use) old high-quality
measuring instruments. I suspect the market for poorer quality ones is a
lot less. They might be useful [1] but I doubt anyone will pay a lot for
them. I cna;t beleive there's much a of a 'nostalgia market' for them either.
[1] For example, if you have a complex analogue device (sauy a radio
receiver) that has a naster intermittant fault, you cna connet as many
voltmeters as you can find to supply rails, anodes/collectors, etc
throughout the device. With it working normally, you note the readings on
every meter, or more commonly, just put a mark (chinagraph, write4all,
etc) no the meter glass. When it palys up, you cna see what's changeed.
You don't need good meters for this, since all you need them to do is
show that something has changed.
I think I'd want to know a lot more about the instruments in question,
brand names, etc.
-tony
2:35 p.m.
On Saturday 04 June 2011 07:57:00 pm Charles Dickman wrote:
The local high school physics teacher was told to
clean out the lab of
all the "old junk." She has a bunch of meters that she is supposed to
dump, but she wanted to know if there was any market for "antique"
meters. I have not seen them, but the way she describes them they are
single function meters (galvanometers, AC voltmeter, DC voltmeter,
etc.) in slope from cases with binding screw terminals on top. She
thought the cases were Bakelite.
Is there any value to such things? Is there an on-line market that
might let me determine a value, if any? I know she is thinking that if
it is worth anything she can use the proceeds to buy supplies.
-chuck
I have here an 0-20uA meter I picked up on ebay some time back in just such a
configuration as you describe, nice metal slope-front case and a pair of binding posts on
top. Cost me a whopping 99 cents, though shipping was a bit more...
I wouldn't mind having some more of these in other ranges, but can't afford any
sort of an investment at this point in time.
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
M Dakin
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