Looking back through my memory I can come up with a few quick ones.
  How about a pristine full stuffed cabinetmakers chest of about the 1860's
for $75?
  Stanley #43 (no filletster bed which is why  left it) for $40?
  Early Millers Falls #5 sized plane in absolutely pristine, brand new shape
for $20? ( I already had a beater #5, what'd I need it for?)
  How about a pre-lateral Stanley #4 1/2 for 3 dollars? Actually, I bought
this and used it about a year when I got one with a lateral lever and gave
this first one to a neighbor. He never touched it, but left it in a 1/2 open
shed with a bad roof and it rusted to smithereens.
  Last night........ A Pexto 16" brace with Samson chuck in good shape, bid
too low
    yours, Scott
*******************************
   Scott Grandstaff
   Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
   scottg@s...
   http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html

What's your worst memory of letting a good tool slip away? I think mine
happened this weekend. I'm ashamed to admit it except I'm desperate for
consolation and hoping someone has a tougher case than mine. I'm no tool
expert as this event certainly proves but I've been chasing tools long
enough so that my first thought is "if I haven't seen one of those
before, it might well be "rare". As recently discussed on the porch,
confusion about rarity vs value probably keeps me from taking too many
chances I guess.  

Anyway, I went to a flea market downtown and was one of the first tool
guys on the scene. I found an antique dealer with three planes. Two
Millers Falls and one Fulton. One of the MF's (Millers Falls that is)
was in the box and priced cheap so I grabbed it. The other had a tote
that had gotten way too close to a fire either intentionally or by
accident but the front knob was pretty cool. The price seemed typical
for a plane but the tote was so ugly I walked away. I toured the whole
place, talked to four or five tool guys, and came back to find it was
still there. I asked the guy if he'd take a few dollars less since the
tote was so bad but he wouldn't budge. So I came home and spent a good
day in the shop having forgotten about the plane.

Just before what was supposed to be time for some shuteye, I decided to
check the MJD website to see what he thought the plane was worth. Here's
what ruined a good nights sleep for me....

Millers Falls Company No. 209: Rare "Red Handle" Metallic Plane. Full
Nickel Plating. Transparent Hdles.. Length: 9.00 Inches. ..... The
"modern" planes introduced by Millers Falls included the so-called "Buck
Rogers" planes and this most unusual fully nickel plated smoothing
plane. Fitted out with handles of clear, red plastic and in essentially
the same condition as it was when it was made, this tool was perhaps too
"flashy" for most and therefore left wanting for buyers. We have seen
only a few examples of this rare plane, and none in this nearly
perfectly preserved condition. An extremely rare plane in near new
condition. (FINE). $565.00      

Must have been too "flashy" for me too...I can only hope a friendly
galoot was smart enough to pounce on it after I left.

I guess I'll get over it if MJD ever sells the tote only for $530.  

Anonymous

anonymous wrote:

> What's your worst memory of letting a good tool slip away?
> 
> Millers Falls Company No. 209: Rare "Red Handle" Metallic Plane. Full
> Nickel Plating. Transparent Hdles. An extremely rare plane in near new
> condition. (FINE). $565.00
> 
So how much would the guy not budge off of??

Mine happened just 4 weeks ago.  I was at a preview and ran across a NIB
Yankee "Radio Tool Set" #105 in absolutely pristine and unused condition in
a green box with yellow label that looked like it was made yesterday.
Normally I would leave a bid but I thought this was worth coming back after.

Looked it up in MJD and he had one in the latest book with a crappy box for
over $350.

Went back at the annointed time, only to find that someone had moved it to
another location and it had already sold for $75!!

Another bummer was that I got there 2 minutes too late to bid on 3 Henkels
kitchen knives with "Winner 1906 World's Fair" etched on the near full-sized
blades!

Hey, it happens

Ed Minch

way back when I was first starting out buying tools (in other words 
when I didn't know squat about nuttin') I attended an auction of a 
smallish cabinetmakers shop. The kind that lived in a garage out 
behind the house?

I was taken with looking at all the old Delta machinery and the boxes 
of hardware and handtools. One box contained some really rusty 
looking and strange looking planes. The crate went for about a 
hundred bucks... big money for me in those days.

In the box... and if memory serves the rust was just years of dirt 
accumulation...

One Knowles pattern fore plane
One Knowles pattern smooth plane

both with totes, blades, wedges and knobs intact.

If I could turn back time...

Gary
-- 

Gary Roberts 
Dedham, MA...Antique tools, Old Books, Hong Kong cinema, what else is there?

John Davis asks:

> What's your worst memory of letting a good tool slip away?

    Oddly, it was not a high dollar item at all.  A few years back, Tom
and I were still taking our Friday road trip to the fleamarket even
though both of us were in the midst of tight finances.  It seemed like
both of us routinely showed up with only $5 or $10 each week.  Not too
bad a problem since there are always some odd or end shop accessories
available for 50 cents or a dollar.  So, the enforced austerity program
wasn't ruining all the fun.  For about a month we would routinely pick
up a Millers Falls racheting screwdriver and delicately fondle its
smallness.  I can't remember if it was a 61A, or if it had a different
number because of the size.  But it was small, at most 8" overall, and
it was in great shape.  Each time we would put it back with the comment
of how nice it was.  Each time that was followed by the proud user
comment that we already had YANKEEs, that we were not collecting these
things, and $8 was way too much because we had never payed more than $4
for a YANKEE.

    And at the end of that month when that screwdriver was gone, we were
both remorseful pathetic wretches.  We still uncontrollably search that
dealer's screwdriver bin in the hope that it will return.  This time it
will be shown the respect it deserves, and be given a loving adopted
home.  Always the remorse when I see that screwdriver bin.  And I swear,
off in the distance, a crow can be heard cawing, "Nevermore!"

Regards,
Steve - and that damn tool dealer's heart just pounds, Pounds, THUMPS!
away....

Well, the subjects of my "I let it slip away" story aren't as rare as 
Knowles planes, but I really have no excuses for these slip-aways except 
over-cautiousness.

The scene: The great Stormville Airport Flea Market, Stormville NY, first 
meet of the 1989 Spring Season.

The resources: I have $600 in my pocket, and it is definitely "spending 
money".

The Slip-Aways:

1) A $125 Stanley 55 in-the-box with all the cutter boxes and all the 
cutters. Labels on all boxes 100% intact.

At the time, I already owned one fairly-complete Stanley 55, but that 
example was, as of Spring 1989, missing the cross-grain spurs and a depth 
stop. (I've since obtained the cross-grain spurs from St. James Bay Tool 
Co., and the person who sold me the plane found the depth stop TEN YEARS 
after I bought the plane, and sent it to me!)

In the interval between 1989 and the time I finally completed the incomplete 
55 that I already had. I often thought about how I could have used a working 
55.

2) (And this is the one that really hurts) A Footprint-made copy of a Norris 
plane for $125.  Why, oh why, didn't I buy this???  It woulda been my ticket 
into the lofty precincts of the FOYBIPO!!!

As I recall, I just wasn't in a buying mood, and went home from that 600+ 
vendor flea market pretty much empty handed except for set of NIB Forstner 
bits for a brace.  If there's a lesson to be learned from this, it's 
"Opportunity Knocks But Once". Yeah, I've had buyer's remorse a couple of 
times, but it's never as painful as NON-buyer's remorse.

I want to share something my father said to me when I bought the incomplete 
55, mentioned above, for $50. "John, there will be many times in your life 
when you will spend $50 on something that won't give you anywhere near as 
much pleasure over the years as this plane will."

John Ruth
Metuchen, NJ

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A coupla sales looked promising, and I had some cash on me. First
sale promised "antique tools in fine condition", second sale said
there were huge amounts of old tools. That one was 90 min. away,
but it gave us a chance to visit mom 'n dad.

First one, it looked like a Stanley collector's ex-wife was divesting
a collection. A couple items had been sold by the time I got there, but
two #40 scrubs, a #113 circular plane, a #146 t&g-makin' contraption,
a full set of  basic cutters for a #45, a 12-1/2 veneer scraper, a
#39-1/4 dado plane, an unmarked double-ended block plane, and a buncha
woodies and some other stuff remained.

I wanted to save some cash for the second sale so I plunked down $70
and took home the 12-1/2, the minty #40, the #146, and the cutters.
Second sale turned out to have nothing more than a buncha old files
and pipe wrenches.

I guess the moral of the story is never pass up a sure thing in favor
of a possibility. I *should* have bought more at the first sale, run
to the nearest cash machine, and bought the rest. Oh well, live and
learn.... plus I did ok buying what I did.