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I was watch/bidding on today's Stout auction and couldn't believe the final bid on Lot 2216, a Lionel 437 switch tower in C9 condition.  It went for $19,000!  Here's a link the the auction https://connect.invaluable.com...VABQC5U3YV?pageNum=4  Must have deep pockets to spend that kind of money on a toy.  With the premium it cost more than the car I bought for my two teenage kids. 

I bid on multiple lots and I got lucky and won the one auction I really wanted, Lot 2243, American Flyer Grand Canyon set.  https://connect.invaluable.com...4006-4010_DB343A3A8C  I submitted my highest bid this morning before the lot came up as I didn't want to get caught up in the heat of the moment and over bid.  I was certain I was going to get way out bid but I won with $100 dollars to spare on my max bid, so I'm pretty happy.

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It's always fun to watch the live auction - what is particularly interesting are those cases where the auctioneer says "Final Warning" three times and just before you think he is going to declare the item sold someone jumps in with another bid and that bid is immediately followed by several more.  There were any number of items that saw this kind of bidding action.

  I managed to get a couple of items I was interested in too - all of them less than my max ... and there were a couple of other items that went WAY past my max so they went to someone else.  Overall, I'm pleased with the way things went.

I lived in Indiana and went to several of Sout's Auctions live. Very entertaining. I once bought a post war cattle car near mint, then turned aournd and sold the boxes and papers in a later auction for more than I paid for the set. The fellow who bought the boxes felt he got a very good deal.

There are many people involved in toy train hobbies. I am an operator and boxes mean little to me. In my view a toy train that is not run is very sad. Others display trains and never run them, considering them works of art. Some collect just the boxes. Some only want boxes with the train inside and never opened or viewed.  Stout's Auctions does its best to meet everyone's ideas for trains and let the one who is willing to spend the most walk away with the product. Stout and his associates do a remarkable job of grading and describing each item perectly so eveyone knows what they are bidding on.

I thank Stouts Auctions for adding to the hobby.

Barry and David1 - I disagree - every hobby/pursuit is made up of a distribution of individuals and those individuals have a distribution of disposable income.  As a result, you will find, without exception, individuals in any hobby/pursuit who have a hard time coming up with even a minimal amount of funds to pursue their interests and others for whom money isn't much of an issue.

  If you have the funds and you have the desire to assemble a collection of only the best of whatever (toy trains, paper currency, antique cars, cast iron banks, old door stoppers, weapons of any type, mechanical pinball games, wind-up old toys, etc.) you will choose to spend that money on the best you can find in your area of interest and it will cost money.

  I have friends with interests in old cars and old U.S. currency and they just laugh any time I mention the "high" prices paid for old toy trains.  For instance, the highest price in the latest Stout Auction (the standard gauge $19,000 switch tower) won't get you anywhere near the hammer price for something of comparable rarity and condition in either the old car or U.S. currency market.

  The other thing to consider is the fact that the $19,000 is an extreme outlier.  The reality is that for the 650 lots sold the mean price was $859, the Median (the 50% point) was $325, the minimum was $20, and the maximum was $19,000.

Here's the breakout

Stout Auction 21 November 2020

The interlude is that group of lots that fell between the standard gauge listings and the postwar listings.

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  • Stout Auction 21 November 2020
Last edited by Robert S. Butler
@dorfj2 posted:

Nice comment Dave - real class

Look people can spend as much money as they want, and just because you can, should you?

I could not spend that kind of money when I know some neighbors and relatives are struggling though this pandemic. Sometimes we have to think of others rather then having a toy that does nothing.

Btw I can have my own opinion?

Dave

A couple of very rare examples, in exceptionally rare condition. I have a couple of good friends who seek out only prewar trains in this condition, 'perfect' boxes, perfect trains. They always sell for a large multiple of the same item without the box and with a couple of scratches. Something like this is truly in the 'rare' category, unlike the numerous ebay auctions with that descripter. There may be only 2 in existence of an item like that, maybe only the one, in that condition with the box.

Not my cup of tea, but I know many of the folks that seek these high end items.

Jim

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