The Jim Seacrest mega-collection

http://coloradooscale.org/mr-jim-seacrest/

Nice write up Salty Rails. 

Several of us in the Colorado region worked for Jim myself included for over 10 years. Jefferson was close to Jim for decades .

He was a kind man and very loyal. I will miss him and his financial reach to bring us high end brass projects to completion. Outside of Neil Gibson, Jim likely has one if not the largest single collections of O Scale 2 rail brass. 

May he Rest In Peace. 

Hi Eric---So are you fellas the guys who were doing the building of the layout?  At one point Jim told me  he didn't "talk about"  the DW&P ANYMORE.  So I have always wondered what the stage of completion was when he stopped. I wonder if it was dismantled.   It was REALLY an ambitious project.

I was going to make a special trip to Nebraska to see the monstrosity----had it been completed.

                                                                  -Rusty Rails-

I met him in a Lincoln, NE train store. Very pleasant man. Knew what he wanted.

Dick

Here are a couple of You Tube videos of Jim's layout.  The videos are not that old so it looks like the layout is still going strong.

https://youtu.be/vLkFYn6D_I4

https://youtu.be/XuKKgUUTcVU

Scott Kay

Austin, TX

The majority of the Seacrest DWP was built by Scale Art Models. A professional service out of the Denver area. Scott has since relocated to Texas. I did some of the backdrop painting and other odd jobs on the layout over the years. Actually a very small part compared to the Anderson team. Jim was indeed a close friend. 

Me too - truly a gentleman.  Always took good care of me.

I have seen those videos recently and was curious as to the disposition of the building and layout, was a club able to take it over or is it to be part of an estate sale?

Has any of Jim's collection gone to market yet?  What venues might these show up on, i.e., Ebay, BrassTrains.com, etc. ?

Two or three months ago I heard the plan was to use Stout Auctions but nothing has shown up there yet so maybe the plan changed. 

I was always amused by his ads in OST. He would list a pile of stuff and then:  "Are you hiding these?"

Several adds in the same issue, also.

Guessing by his ads, he had a good sense of humor.

Simon

Stout Auctions has posted a video with highlights of the Jim Seacrest collection on their Facebook page.

Just from the video there appears a very large amount of rare "high end" brass along with large amounts of older brass models and non brass models. It will be interesting to see how high the bidding goes overall [+ 20% "premium"], from what I have read this is the largest collection currently in the country.

Derek,

My goodness, what a collection.  I'll be there, I saw stuff I want.

hibar posted:

Just from the video there appears a very large amount of rare "high end" brass along with large amounts of older brass models and non brass models. It will be interesting to see how high the bidding goes overall [+ 20% "premium"], from what I have read this is the largest collection currently in the country.

I mean no disrespect to Mr. Seacrest but I wonder how his brass collection stacks up against Al Edel.

It will be fun to compare the final Seacrest numbers with a guesstimate of what (by my recollection) Edel has in his garage and basement. 

I tried to watch the video.  Moves way too slow - how about a slide show with two or three shots of each model, one an elevation.

I personally would not pick up a 2-rail brass steamer by anything but the cab and cylinders, but I am not in charge here, and I am going to give the guy a pass.  Most of these models have been modified somewhat already, and the value may be diminished.  The Rock Island obs series, for example, has had windows changed, with silver paint over the plated brass.  Purchasers will only see this level of detail with better photos.  They are still great models, but not $600 ones.

I think Jim had the world's largest collection of Fischer cars.  I hope to see photos of them.

Oh, there's a fair number of 2-rail collectors out there so a good number will in all likelihood go back into their boxes and onto a shelf to wait for the next estate sale.

mwb posted:

Oh, there's a fair number of 2-rail collectors out there so a good number will in all likelihood go back into their boxes and onto a shelf to wait for the next estate sale.

Truth.

Has Stout Auctions provided a listing of items to bid on yet?  I looked and could not locate any listing.

Steve

Nope. Not sure what happened to the 90% of stuff listed. 

In the video, he said that 90% (of the first auction) would be loaded by the end of the week.

In the two video's of Jim Seacrest's beautiful layout I've seen I didn't notice many pieces of  high end rolling stock.  Was it Jim's practice to  run the more  common items (MTH F units, Intermountain and Weaver cars) and reserve the high end items (Key diesels, Fischer passenger cars, etc) for display?

It will be interesting to follow this auction.  Prices at the Chicago meet were relatively soft.   I expect a collection this large hitting the market at one time will further soften it.

I believe the DW&P was intended to be prototype specific, for a couple of years the building of the massive layout was being documented by the builders even to motive power. Beyond the layout Jim obviously acquired a very large collection of  models, interesting the videos that have been posted appeared to be taken after Jims passing, The auctions [there are all ready several dates mentioned] should garner considerable interest from both bidders and watchers.

Robert.

I visit London (UK) every year I don't collect toy soldiers but I visit anyplace that would hold my interest one place was an exclusive Toy Soldier shop near the palace maybe you have been there, probably have, and I'm wasting my time and yours, if not I have a few photos of the fabulous collections which were all for sale all the year round, drop us a line if your interested and I'll send the photos to you.

End of thread drift . I apologise if I have upset anyone for this message. Roo

 neville-1234@bigpond.com

I would love to see them. I emailed you

A large part of the first auction [April 8] has been posted on the the Stout website, lots of CB&Q motive power.

I found the stout side easy to navigate and place bids on.

Plenty of brass cars to bid on !

hibar posted:

Plenty of brass cars to bid on !

Yeah and a few fellas are started already! 

Pretty easy to see who based upon the items they are bidding on.   No real rarities so far but lots of Pac Limited cars.

Adding in that 16 per cent buyers premium  with shipping could get expensive real quick though. 

"Adding in that 16 per cent buyers premium  with shipping could get expensive real quick though." 

They are only expensive if you can't afford them. Roo.

BradA posted:

I found the stout side easy to navigate and place bids on.

Likewise 

Roo posted:

 

"Adding in that 16 per cent buyers premium  with shipping could get expensive real quick though." 

 

They are only expensive if you can't afford them. Roo.

Wasn't it someone like Ernst Leitz that said "expensive is when the product is not worth the price"?

Luckily I'm just about brassed out... and having more than one of some of these cars defeats the purpose of making them stand out in a train or on the layout.

Why are some items without pictures? Are you supposed to bide on items you can't see?

I don't know who they have putting those estimates on the stuff, but they seem real low on the premium brass stuff and high on the ordinary?  Or is this what things normally sell for at auction before they end up on Ebay?

 It will be interesting to see how high the bidding goes overall [+ 20% "premium"],

Actually, it's 18% premium if you pay via CC, 16% if you pay in Cash or Money Order. I have been doing business with Stout Auctions for a while. Their descriptions can be sometimes vague or even questionable,  but you can e-mail them with questions before the auction. Bidding goes fast - on line at least. I can't imagine what it's like being there in person. It would be interesting to see the prices of those Overland F39 cars. Nothing in the collection posted other than the F39 has any appeal to me. 

oscaletrains posted:

I don't know who they have putting those estimates on the stuff.......

Auction estimates are meaningless; ignore them and use your own good judgment...

Would be nice to see the rest of the items...........instead of "photo not available",

It will be interesting to see how this auction goes.  Similar items on Ebay don't sell at all, and at much reduced asking prices from initial offering by the original importer.  

Don't forget that this is just the first of the three Jim Seacrest auctions.  I asked Stout Auctions if there was theme to each of the auctions.  They said they focused on making the first one mostly brass.  The other two will have more plastic but I'm sure they will have a lot of brass too.

mark s posted:

It will be interesting to see how this auction goes.  Similar items on Ebay don't sell at all, and at much reduced asking prices from initial offering by the original importer.  

And to see how long will those Key cab forwards on brasstrains last?

john handlogten posted:

Don't forget that this is just the first of the three Jim Seacrest auctions.  I asked Stout Auctions if there was theme to each of the auctions.  They said they focused on making the first one mostly brass.  The other two will have more plastic but I'm sure they will have a lot of brass too.

I don't like that, what if you don't get something because you are waiting to see what's next, or you run out of cash on the first ones only to see a more desired item on the last one go away?