OK - I don't know if this is w-a-y outside of possible, but what about an
eBay version of crowd-sourcing.  Let's say 50 Galoots offer to sell 50
tools on the 'Bay.  That's 2500 tools gone with the proceeds going into
Jim's widow's account ...  I'm thinking about 25 years or so of FMM (Free
Market Monday for the newer members) and how we all sold like madmen in a
market that was built on trust, and in hundreds of sales, I got nicked once
by some Bozo in Boseman for about 28 bucks.
I for one, would be willing to do it.  Any of us can scarf together 50
boxes .... none of us are going to find 2500.
A thought.
Tom

On Wed, Apr 22, 2015 at 5:00 PM, Charlie Driggs  wrote:

> Galoots … an update regarding disposal of Jim’s tools
>
> First off … the volume involved is larger than nearly all of you may have
> imagined, except perhaps Scott G as I think he had an inkling.  I honestly
> have never seen Jim’s workshop or tool storage except in a handful of
> pictures he sent me over a dozen years, even though MLW and I did visit
> with Jim and his wife for two days in 2011.  We did not go to their home,
> because Jim and his wife raised and trained dogs and I have a severe
> allergy to dogs, so couldn’t get near the house to Jim’s disappointment.
> But over the past fifteen years he described many of the things he had and
> things that he thought he had stored somewhere but had not yet found again
> in our phone conversations and email exchanges.  Jim had a fairly large
> shop space and he had a larger than typical storage building behind his
> home that was packed to the doors with stuff.  For a while, he even had a
> (unplugged) large size horizontal / chest-type freezer filled with tool
> items, at least until one day he did a dive and discovered he had forgotten
> he even had some valuable items in the bottom layer.  He was a happy guy in
> our conversations that day.  Jim’s wife tells me there is quite a bit more
> within the house, which Jim never mentioned.  I know that a minor but
> significant chunk of his tool collection has little to do with woodworking
> and carving, as he was also a very highly skilled welding instructor, a
> very experienced layout man for large fabrications, and proprietor of a
> photography (portrait type) studio on the side for a long time (and still
> had much of the photography equipment).  For those who have been on the
> Porch for years, you may recall that Jim has mentioned some of these
> activities in his postings, plus his stained glass work over the last
> decade.  He also used some of his woodworking tools and some new specialist
> items for his gourd carving work.  Only his wife knows what else he had
> done over his working lifetime and retirement years.  When Jim sent me a
> photo of a few storage drawers in the workshop some five years ago and said
> he had stopped counting at 100 screwdrivers and 50 hammers, with many left
> to count of each, it confirmed that there was a serious magnetic
> disturbance in that vicinity.  Jim had also mentioned that he didn’t have
> much invested in those items compared to his other tools.  Jim was candid
> that he only liked to buy the very best tools for whatever job the tool was
> meant for.  When you and your wife seek regular weekly entertainment by
> visiting 1-4 estate sales each Friday or Saturday in a region where
> aircraft and other skilled fabrication industries are well represented,
> followed by a meal at a favorite restaurant, and you are buying whatever
> you find that you know is excellent quality and worth having, you can
> acquire a lot of tools and supplies.  Being on the west coast, he wasn’t
> able to find many eighteenth or early nineteenth century woodworking tools,
> especially woodies, but late nineteenth and early-to-mid twentieth century
> items were in abundance.
>
> I persuaded Jim to start an inventory over the last several years as part
> of our long discussions about how we might go about disposing of our tools
> for our wives' benefit.  He held off with starting the inventory until he
> was no longer able to do the kind of projects he most enjoyed, and began
> documenting what he had around the same time he started selling some of his
> tools.  Jim quickly concluded there were so many items, so much physical
> work involved and not enough space available to lay them all out that he
> would just discover what he had as and when he had a high energy day to
> tackle excavation & discovery.  He would then decide to keep or sell each
> item as he went along.  Jim soon became quite weakened by his medical
> problems and the extra effort involved, and he didn’t get very far over his
> last twelve months.  Some of you may have been the lucky bidders in his
> eBay sales, but I doubt there are very many people in that circle.
>
> There is a lesson here for all of us.  What you read above is an
> indication of the magnitude of the task his widow faces, and his daughter
> and son either live too far away or are uninterested in helping their
> mother obtain an optimum recovery of the monetary value locked up in Jim’s
> possessions.  She has known for years the amount of space all of it takes
> up, but never had any real idea what it might be worth.  The prospect of
> doing it all herself scares her.  I gave his wife an inkling of what might
> be involved in the task this week, so that she can realize the importance
> of doing the next step properly.  Jim love of his life also assures me that
> Jim didn’t tell me about everything he had as he admitted to her that he
> couldn’t remember where many items, some very valuable, were located or
> whether he still had them, and he also couldn’t remember even having some
> very nice items that he did find and sent pictures of to me.  The task of
> identifying and inventorying all of it will be a major effort that must be
> undertaken before an auction of any kind.  At least it is required if she
> is to realize the kind of money from their sale to keep her in her home for
> as long as she wishes to stay there.  The alternative of entertaining a
> lump sum buyout offer also requires getting it all out in the open if she
> is to get a fair price, as there is likely to be a very nice dollar amount
> involved.
>
> So, yes, I sent Jim's widow a letter with my recommendations on how to
> proceed early this week, and I expect that she and I will talk further
> about it in the next few days.  The recommendations did reflect the input I
> had received from nineteen of you who sent your thoughts by Monday night
> (thank you very much, if I missed responding to anybody), and in that
> letter I did ask that she consider trying to hold a Galoot-exclusive
> auction prior to full release of her property to others for either an
> auction or a buyout.  I gave her the names of people I thought could handle
> the magnitude of work involved and either had (or had access to) the
> working capital required, and described to her why I made the
> recommendations I offered.  I haven’t written many eight page letters
> lately, and this one took some time and careful thought on how to explain
> the task in a way that would be clear and easy to understand.  Jim was too
> good a friend for me to do anything less.
>
> I will update you all on his wife’s preferences once she makes them
> known.  In the meantime, if you can refine your thoughts on just how we
> might hold an OldTools members-only auction given the verbal description of
> the situation above, it will help me sell the concept to her and to anyone
> else she wants to get engaged in this process.  Fair warning: the idea may
> be a difficult sell if a third party is involved, so let’s make a
> reasonable and fair proposal.  I will tell you that I prefer the version of
> this idea that includes reserve prices, so proceed from there.
>
> Charlie
>
> ….. and if any of my fellow Galoots think maybe you need to start thinking
> about this problem too, maybe you (and I) should have started sooner.  Who
> are you going to ask to help YOUR widow or children when the time comes?
>
>
>
> On Apr 18, 2015, at 3:27 PM, Gary Katsanis 
> wrote:
>
> I would prefer the silent auction because it's most likely to be the best
> for Jim's wife.
>
> We would need to separate tools into lots, take pictures, then post the
> whole thing.  We would need a way to coordinate and post bids. I'm guessing
> email to submit bids, a web site to post pictures and bids, and a handful
> of volunteers to make things workable at the end.
>
> Then we need boxes and bubble-wrap.  Lots and lots of boxes and bubble
> wrap.
>
> But that way, we can share what's available with everyone and ensure that
> tools bring a reasonable return.
>
> There's a simplistic overview of a silent auction at
> http://www.wikihow.com/Run-a-Silent-
Auction">http://www.wikihow.com/Run-a-Silent-Auction .  Our would be more
complex,
> given that we would need to ship them when we're done.
>
> The most critical piece would be to have someone on site to deal with the
> operation.  What do people think?
>
> Gary Katsanis
> Albion NY, USA
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject:        Re: [OldTools] update -- Jim Thompson
> Date:   Sat, 18 Apr 2015 14:11:14 -0500
> From:   Roy 
> Reply-To:       rp77469@c...
> Organization:   Dysfunctional Buckskinner Society
> To:     Gary Katsanis 
>
>
>
> Both of these are good ideas.  I prefer the silent auction, or even
> not-silent
> auction.  I know I often miss a chance at on of Josh's sales because I am
> not
> online when it occurs.  Something that runs over 24 hours so everyone
> could have
> a chance at bidding would be nice.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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> OldTools is a mailing list catering to the interests of hand tool
> aficionados, both collectors and users, to discuss the history, usage,
> value, location, availability, collectibility, and restoration of
> traditional handtools, especially woodworking tools.
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> To change your subscription options:
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>
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