Conference lesreg::model_railroads

    Just received the Sotheby's catalog for the Knopf Crown collection
    auction to be held March 8th that was advertised in MR. I don't quite
    have the $5K-$8K (+15% buyer's premium + 8�% NYC sales tax) to bid on
    that  2-10-4 KCS (picture is in MR) but I was interested to see
    pictures of that and other 'legendary' Crowns. 
    
    If you're in NYC Mar 2-Mar 7th and you like Brass, you can see 76 of
    the 81(?) Crowns ever made before they disappear into collections
    again during the preview. The other Crowns range $1500-$3000 - the
    going rate if you look at brass lists on the web.
    
    The sale also includes Knopf's collection of the entire(?) New
    Haven steam roster and many complete 'name' trains that ran in North
    America. The auction estimates on some of these are relatively
    reasonable compared to today's brass prices. Like all auctions though,
    it depends on who shows up that will determine the eventual selling
    price (but there are reserves on the pieces however - so no 'steals'
    are likely). 
    
    BTW IMHO, that KCS 2-10-4 may have been the ultra state of the art in
    the 60's but average in today's offerings (slotted driver screws,
    average number of castings etc.) Unless you consider them "antique" to
    be worth the price.  
    

    re: -.1, Yeah, I agree. I guess that makes me (us) non-collector(s).
    Some aspects of brass pricing make sense, in that other things being
    equal, complexity really pumps up the price. C&O Alleghenys have always
    been high because they have every pipe, pump, and gizmo known to man,
    while some 4-8-4's (tending to be rather clean externally) are less
    expensive than some smaller locos. The "first of a series of only
    fifty" or "from the personal collection of Adolph Menjou" stuff just
    baffles me. I'm not willing to pay for that.

From: [email protected] (PEACHCREEK)
Newsgroups: rec.models.railroad
Subject: Sotheby's brass auction
Date: 10 Mar 1997 13:52:22 GMT
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com

Well... it was an experience.  I give a full report in Rail Line News but
here are some tidbits.

The range of bid prices from low to high for the total collection were
$540,500 to $707,650
The total sale price (hammer price) for the collection was $690,800, just
about 90% of the max bid prices.

models going for greater than suggested max bid			68
models going for less than suggested minimum bid		
159

Lot#	models bringing more than 2 times the suggested max bid	
281	PFM DM&IR M-3 2-8-8-4  		             8250	
229	PFM NYC S-1b 4-8-4	                           5000	
224	PFM GN 0-6-0		                             650	
156	NYC 1956 Lake Shore Limited		7500	
30	B&O 2-8-8-4		                            2250	
	Lots 281,229, and 224 are PFM pieces, Lot 156 is a whole train,
lot 30 is               Samhongsa piece. 			

Lot#	models bringing more than 3 times the suggested max bid	
302	Wabash M-1 4-8-2		19000	
303	KCS J 4-10-2		28000	
275	C&O H-8 2-6-6-6		13000	
276	N&W #600 4-8-4		16000	
212	Southern Ts-1 4-8-2	15000	
all of the above listed models are early PFM Crowns
No, I'm not making this up.  The KCS 2-10-4, the last item in the auction
went for $28,000. This was the HAMMER price.  Add to this a 15% buyers
premium and a New York sales tax of 8.25% and you get an ACTUAL cost of 
$34,856.50.  In 1963 this model sold for $169.00.  Now who says brass
isn't a good investment?
 
Do you read the tea leaves the way I do?  Where's the money? It's in the
early very limited production PFM CROWNS.

    These prices are way out of wack. The people must be nuts , rich or I
    would hope they really wanted that model for some memory reason and are
    willing to pay the price. I better watch my locomotives more closely.