Found these two at an antique mall today.
Found these two at an antique mall today.
Those were actually priced fairly decent for an antique shop
Found these two at an antique mall today.
Did you buy them Mike?
For some reason, the Weeden 311 called out to me and I couldn’t leave it there. 😁
Bet it was tough passing that bargain up! Since antique shops usually know little of steam engine values, you find a lot of overpriced engines. But it can work to your favor as well, as I have some really valuable engines priced way too low due to this same lack of knowledge.Although not steam related, i recently bought a $300 jukebox speaker for $20 at an antique store- same one where i bought a nearly mint riveted boiler #5 for $150. It was sitting on a shelf next to a worthless engine, also priced at $150.
crazydoug
That's a nice thread!
I like the snapshots with steam engines sitting calmly among other antiques/junk to be spotted and liberated!
I have found only few steam engines in antique shops so far (a very small Doll overtype plus dredge, a very nice Doll 364/1, e.g.) but I was always far too nervous to take any photos of them sitting on the shelves before starting the negotiations...
Perhaps this (pretty rare) Doll 404/5 from 1937 is worth showing.
I had been trying my luck with many antique shops, "Trödelläden" (bric-a-brac shops), antique toy dealers and flea markets in Berlin that 15th November 2003 and was now roaming the area around Savignyplatz, Kantstraße, Pestalozzistraße. I was really exhausted from walking for hours (no exaggeration) and diving in and out of shops - and I had seen not a single steam item that day, not even the obligatory burnt and battered WILESCO D16, not to speak of any accessory. Not a single one, only shrugs and head shakes...!
Then I came across a small shop in Pestalozzistraße, full of custom made bicycles of the strangest designs, one of them made of wood, showing a great deal of craftsmanship. You could take a peek into the cluttered shop cum workshop - and there she stood, together with a Doll bench-saw and a Doll fret-saw on a workbench.
Actually, and I don't make this up, I turned and started to walk on, smiling about the funny bikes, because I had become so used to being disappointed that I had already gone a few paces before I realized "STEAM ENGINE!!!". Well, here she is:
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Beautiful engine and well worth the walking!
That's certainly worth a days walking! Plus, it gives you the incentive to keep searching such places despite the mostly disappointing searches.
crazydoug
Wow! What a great find Thomas.
My only Flea Market engine was found by my wife and it is also my first engine. A Weeden 702. She gave it to me for Christmas in 2016.
She sure regrets that find! 🤠
300+ engines and accessories later.
Wow! What a great find Thomas.
My only Flea Market engine was found by my wife and it is also my first engine. A Weeden 702. She gave it to me for Christmas in 2016.
She sure regrets that find! 🤠
300+ engines and accessories later.
Charlie, my wife and me met, as planned before, in the "Zwiebelfisch"-pub just around the corner from where I found the engine that day. When I told her that I had found something extraordinary and she saw the crate she thought it was some bottles of old wine or I had booked a table in a fancy restaurant (nothing to do with the crate) and well, yes, she was a bit disappointed when I showed her - just another steam engine.
But she managed to listen patiently (and smiling) to my story - when my telephone rang. It was the man in whose shop/workshop I had bought the engine. When I left, I had jokingly given him my number with the words "if you find the original drive bands of that engine...". Now he phoned me to say that this had somehow rang a bell and he had unearthed meanwhile a small box containing: a water reservoir for the feeder pump, a measuring cup, a desiccated piece of rubber hose for the pump, an old drive belt, a funnel and a small hook with a handle and a small piece of wick (to lighten the burner and open the fire door), all original Doll items. If I wanted to have them, I would just have to collect them...
My wife agreed to have an eye on the crate (yes, of course I ordered another glass of the bubbly stuff before I left) and I fetched the items.
Nice day. And we also found a good restaurant later...
