[alansutton]

Do any members know how I can find value & part nos. of the Hornby Dublo items I have acquired from my fathers attic. Some look in superb condition & some are boxed.
Looking at Ebay does not help much.

 

[Gary]

Hi Alan and welcome to Model Rail Forum.

I would agree with you that Ebay is a waste of time when it comes to determining the value of Hornby Dublo items. It is very hit and miss and nearly all of the images are very poor so it is difficult for the collector to determine how good an item really is. It is also down to who happens to be viewing during the 10 days that an item is listed. Many Dublo collectors will not even think about Ebay as they prefer to examine the goods before making a purchase and of course many Dublo collectors do not have access to the internet.

You need 2 books first of all.

For the spares purchase "Hornby Dublo Trains" by Michael Foster. It has all the Dublo service sheets at the back of the book and is an excellent read. Its about £45 new but there are bargains to be had if you look around. I picked up a copy for £10 at a swapmeet!

And to determine value Ramsays 4th Edition of "British Model Trains Catalogue" for about £24 is worth picking up although the 3rd Edition has pretty much the same info from a Dublo point of view and can now be picked up at bargain prices. Bearing in mind that collectors really only want true quality items these days and anything marked or damaged will have little value. The boxes complete with instructions can make up 40% or more of the value of an item.

You could also visit the websites of major Auction houses such as Vectis, Barry Potter and Bonhams, all of whom either specialise in toys and toy trains or have toy sales that include Dublo items. They all have historic records of prices realised.

www.vectis.co.uk would be a start.

Tony Cooper may help you with spares if the book above is a bit over budget. He likes tubular bells

:-

http://www.hornbydublo.fsbusiness.co.uk/dublo.htm

Hope this helps.

Gary

 

[Specialsteel]

Alan - save your hard earned money (you could be left with nothing if you buy all those books) and refer to the following to get your part numbers:
http://img.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/dublo/dublo.htm
for descriptions and some good pictures of individual items and
http://img.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/dublo/catalog.htm
which has copies of some Hornby Dublo catalogues that you can have a good look through.
JIM

 

[bobknee]

I have a reasonable collection of Hornby Dublo and have the reference books referred to earlier in this thread, plus the Ramsey guides.

To get a good idea of what prices are actually being paid for HD items changing hands, I believe you can't beat ebay. You can watch the items to the point of sale and see the final bid prices. The Ramsey guide values seem to be overly optimistic compared to prices paid for on ebay.

I used to attend many swap meets/toy fairs, but in the last few years found that HD prices are over inflated for often poor quality items.

I have never had any trouble with purchases on ebay. The tips are:

Read the description carefully
Examine the photo(s) carefully
Check the feedback of the seller
Ask any questions of the seller before bidding

If you are the highest bidder and the item does not arrive as described, you have the right to request your money back. You also have an appeals procedure with eaby and you have the option of leaving negative feedback on ebay for the seller.

Most people using ebay are genuine enthusiasts and guard their positive feedback very carefully.

ebay really is the best "live" vehicle for the most up to date values for HD and other items, even if you don't buy and sell but just use it for research purposes, in which case it costs you nothing, except the cost of a PC and an internet connection.

 

[Matt]

It seems that there is a mixed opinion as far as E-Bay goes. For the main part I would not recommend it as a true guide to the value of HD items but it will give a fair indication as to what people are willing to pay.

I have recently started buying Tri-ang trains from there and have found it to be a usefull source for some of the harder to find items. However I have also found that some items are not as good as they appear in photos.

As an aside. it was an E-bay seller who pointed me to this site.

For valuation purposes you could always try an antique dealer who deals in toys and collectables. Or maybe go to an Antiques Roadshow taping when they are in your area.

Hope this is of some use to you.
Matt

 

[Doug]

QUOTE (Matt @ 25 Aug 2005, 06:10)It seems that there is a mixed opinion as far as E-Bay goes. For the main part I would not recommend it as a true guide to the value of HD items but it will give a fair indication as to what people are willing to pay.

...
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What your learn in the first year of Economics is that Supply and Demand are linked and product Value is linked to the two. But there were one or two theories indeed.

eBay has opened up the various markets to everyone and for the first time we are playing on a world wide market. eBay is also based on greed. There is no logic in bidding before the last minute of an auction, but people do. If you are not going to be around for the end, there is no point bidding. Slapping a value on what you are prepared to pay is ridiculous as there will always be some other guy, more greedy who will bid more depending on the temperature in his garden shed at the moment he hits the button.

 

[bobknee]

QUOTE (Matt @ 25 Aug 2005 @ 06:10)It seems that there is a mixed opinion as far as E-Bay goes. For the main part I would not recommend it as a true guide to the value of HD items but it will give a fair indication as to what people are willing to pay. ...

Re: the above. I'm not quite sure what this means. An item is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it at the time of sale.

Taking it to individual collector's/dealers is very time consuming and can be very costly. Valuations will vary enormously. You only have to watch the collectible programmes on telly, e.g. Flog It and Antiques Roadshow to hear the differences between auction and insurance valuations.

The easiest and quickest way to get an item in front of the greatest number of people all around the World is ebay. You may get a couple of hundred people in an auction room, probably just a handfull interested in your HD item.

Those viewing your item on ebay are searching for HD items specifically. There is no better way of getting your item in front of interested people than ebay.

With a little research on a seller's part, a good description/photo and a reasonable reserve, a fair price is likely to be achieved from someone who really wants it.

Bob

 

[Brian Considine]

QUOTE (alansutton @ 24 Apr 2005, 21:58) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Do any members know how I can find value & part nos. of the Hornby Dublo items I have acquired from my fathers attic. Some look in superb condition & some are boxed.
Looking at Ebay does not help much.

Hi Alan,

eBay can be a very useful guide to values if you use it in the right manner - you really need (based on my own experience) to "follow" the prices attained by at least 5 of the same items for as many weeks to get a reasonable average. Disregard any weeks that have more than 2 of the same rare item at the same time

Remember - the law of supply & demand is very, very true here & at the end of the day something is only worth what someone is actually prepared to pay for it.

I have sold a lot of collectable model railway items on eBay & have nver been disapointed with the prices obtained. Many of the more rarer items end up going to North America !

By all means give eBay a go & follow the good advice given by bobknee. Although you have to pay eBay a commission (also to PayPal - recommended for overseas buyers) the only other advice I can give is to check the other listings for similar items to yours - no point in putting a nice raeish piece on the same week as there are 4 others, unless you are in a hurry to sell.

Whichever way you go - good luck.
best regards
Brian

 

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Sound advice there. What I find works for me is to watch items in myeBay and that way it keeps them in your watch list even after they have finished for quite some time. That way you can watch any number of items and compare data at the end to determine if there is any similarity between prices and thus give you an indication of what it may be worth.