A 77 year old friend of mine sold the collection he amassed over 40yrs 5yrs ago, but kept a few pieces. Now he is pondering selling the pieces he kept. The most valuable is a 1950 773 with tender in excellent condition, with boxes and master carton.
So I am asking, for my friend, what today's value would be for this engine.
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Stout Auctions seems to do very well selling stuff like that. Their strategy is to sell the loco and tender as one lot, the loco and tender boxes as one lot and the master carton as a third lot. You'd be AMAZED to see what people will pay for hard to find boxes like those. The master carton alone can sell for $500 or more.
I reviewed a collection within the last two years that had three of them. They were sold at auction for $3000 , $2100 and $1850 . All had nice original boxes but no master cartons. About a year before the sale, I purchased one on Ebay for a bit over $1200 no boxes. The seller was a well known ebayer with high end stuff. It was in excellent condition and does run very nice. Think I was lucky perhaps.
Follow this item on eBay, and see what several sell for. Average it out, and you have your answer. Of course, condition is a big deal.
Alan
@ajzend posted:Follow this item on eBay, and see what several sell for. Average it out, and you have your answer. Of course, condition is a big deal.
Alan
I would agree. The three examples I referenced above were in my opinion Hi Grade. They were beautiful examples.
A 1950 773 with 2426W tender in excellent condition but without boxes recently sold for $1825.00 + tax + shipping on the 'bay. It came with an inspection paper, smoke pellets and some nice instruction sheets. It had been completely serviced. I would say your friend has a very valuable and desirable item there.
TJ
Hard to believe that there are still people out there that will pay even 1200 for that engine as the generation that grew up in that era is getting long in the tooth. I guess there will always be a few who will pay top dollar for high grade post war Lionel same as with prewar. The average stuffs value has dropped a lot in the past 20 years But apparently not for high grade.i have paid what some would say is ridiculous prices for a collectible gun made before I was born so I get it but I suspect the market size is much smaller for old Lionel engines.
What is long long in the tooth? Dave
@Dave Nichols posted:What is long long in the tooth? Dave
Old, as in an old horse's teeth look like they are getting longer because of receding gums.
I think the 700 series is among the finest in O Scale. I have all the cars, one 763, and the early switcher, all 2-railed. If I wanted another Hudson it would be the 1990 version or the Williams repro. Hard to believe a shipping carton has value.
It is entertaining to watch these prices - remember the sealed 700E that went for $32 grand?
I think this is a nice looking locomotive. This one happens to run real well too.
I believe that there is still a small but very active collector market for P/W items like the 773 but in general the used P/W market has experienced a sharp decline. The 773 was a high end piece and the quantities manufactured may not have been very large. I liked the look of the scale Hudson and satisfied the need by buying two like new 5340 Lionel LLC Hudsons for $500 ea. Other operators looking to run more stuff may choose to purchase the more full featured Legacy Scale Hudson. Point is that if you have $500-$2,000 to spend there are many alternatives to chose in scale Hudsons.
The 773 was a one year only item. It was available in two sets, one a freight set with several operating cars and the second a passenger set with 3 Madison cars with Silhouettes, also one year only. These sets were the top of the Lionel line in 1950, in the $80-90 range. The were available for separate sale as well.
In addition to the locos Dennis mentioned, Lionel did issue repros of the 773 as the Century Club and again as a Post War Celebration series in the repro of the 1964 freight set . This one used the longer die cast tender from the 700e . Both of these are nice runners m smoke well and have sounds and TMCC .
As for Post war interest and value, nice stuff C-7 or better seems to do very well in auctions and on the on line auction site, with lots of bids.
If you have a bit of Post War interest or are a fan of Hudsons, thw 1950 773 will appeal to you as an iconic piece.
You can never have too many Hudsons
FWIW, I paid $1,300 for my 773 without boxes. I have the 1950 version in excellent condition.
Are for parts 773s easy or inexpensive to service?
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