I found a cabinet at work (an old church) full of old vacuum tubes and
want to make my boss an offer for them. They have been in a room that
is temp/humidity controlled to protect the archived tapes from old
broadcasts.

They look like they've never been cleaned off after being pulled from
old gear, so I'm sure they're NOS, mostly GE and RCA but a few Amperex
and one Mullard (an EF86). There are some very old octals I don't
recognize. These make up perhaps 80% of the lot and could date from the
early days of radio. Of the ones I do recognize there are half a dozen
5AR4, 5U4 and 5Y3 rectifiers, and even a pair of 80's (I don't know how
many other four pin tubes there are as I only had a moment to look).

I think the ones I recognize are worth about $1000 on the open market,
and the rest I suspect are worth another $400, perhaps more. What
should I offer him for them.

Stewart Ward wrote:
Karl wrote:


They look like they've never been cleaned off after being pulled from old gear, so
I'm sure they're NOS, mostly GE and RCA but a few Amperex and one Mullard (an
EF86).

NOS means New Old Stock. Valves pulled from old gear are probably, therefore, used.
IMO, they would need to be checked, as there is probably a reason they were
'pulled' in the
first place.

Sorry, I wrote that wrong. I meant to say they are obviously new, NOT
stuff that has been pulled, cleaned and reboxed. There's no tarnish on
the pins, the boxes are crisp and brand new, the inked numbers on the
bulbs is not smeared from being grabbed when hot, etc. I'm sure they
are NOS.

So what's the going rate for salvage lots? 10%, 30%, 50%?

"Karl" wrote in message
oups.com...

Stewart Ward wrote:
Karl wrote:


They look like they've never been cleaned off after being pulled from
old gear, so
I'm sure they're NOS, mostly GE and RCA but a few Amperex and one
Mullard (an
EF86).

NOS means New Old Stock. Valves pulled from old gear are probably,
therefore, used.
IMO, they would need to be checked, as there is probably a reason they
were
'pulled' in the
first place.

Sorry, I wrote that wrong. I meant to say they are obviously new, NOT
stuff that has been pulled, cleaned and reboxed. There's no tarnish on
the pins, the boxes are crisp and brand new, the inked numbers on the
bulbs is not smeared from being grabbed when hot, etc. I'm sure they
are NOS.

So what's the going rate for salvage lots? 10%, 30%, 50%?


Just my opinion of course, but when I bid on big batches of tubes being put
up for sale I offer 10 cents per tube. If I knew for certain what the tubes
were and what their condition was I suppose I might give 50 cents to a
dollar each.

How many, what numbers, etc. etc. Where?

A NIB US-made 5AR4 is worth perhaps $50 on the open market these days.
Down for the others. A globe 80 might be worth that as well, perhaps a
wee bit more. Your 5Y3/5U4 et.al. are perhaps-$10 NIB, at least in my
circles.

So, be generous and suggest your average is $20/tube.

$1000/20 = 50

Are their 50 tubes of that caliber in the group? Do you have the means
to test a random sample, even if just the filament?

AES and several other bulk-buyers have 'want' lists and offer prices
out there on a regular basis. You might refer to one of those and make
your offer accordingly. That is a guaranteed floor price.

Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA

I'd take a little more inventory of
what you have before offering $1000 ...
I think most people would simply take the cash
for a bunch of old light bulbs with pins on them ...
It's possible that you have allot of useless
TV or radio reciever tubes that may not be worth very much,
I really can't recall many 4 - pin tubes .. at least in audio
circuits.

Robert McLean wrote:

Just my opinion of course, but when I bid on big batches of tubes being put
up for sale I offer 10 cents per tube. If I knew for certain what the tubes
were and what their condition was I suppose I might give 50 cents to a
dollar each.

Thanks. I think I'll offer $250 for the lot. There's about 250 of them
and the ones I do recognize will get me my money back. We'll see if
they want to sell them, first.

wrote:
How many, what numbers, etc. etc. Where?

A NIB US-made 5AR4 is worth perhaps $50 on the open market these days.
Down for the others. A globe 80 might be worth that as well, perhaps a
wee bit more. Your 5Y3/5U4 et.al. are perhaps-$10 NIB, at least in my
circles.

So, be generous and suggest your average is $20/tube.

$1000/20 = 50

Are their 50 tubes of that caliber in the group?

I can't say for sure. I remember a stack of rectifiers, mostly 5AR4's,
but i was so enthusiastic about them that I don't remember enough
details now to put an accurate value on them. Shoulda took off my rose
colored glasses!

Do you have the means
to test a random sample, even if just the filament?

I can take a multimeter and check continuity, but that's all. I don't
have a tube tester.

AES and several other bulk-buyers have 'want' lists and offer prices
out there on a regular basis. You might refer to one of those and make
your offer accordingly. That is a guaranteed floor price.

I checked AES, and it looks like I was guessing high, even by AES
standards.

Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA

Karl wrote:
I found a cabinet at work (an old church) full of old vacuum tubes and
want to make my boss an offer for them. They have been in a room that
is temp/humidity controlled to protect the archived tapes from old
broadcasts.

They look like they've never been cleaned off after being pulled from
old gear, so I'm sure they're NOS, mostly GE and RCA but a few Amperex
and one Mullard (an EF86). There are some very old octals I don't
recognize. These make up perhaps 80% of the lot and could date from the
early days of radio. Of the ones I do recognize there are half a dozen
5AR4, 5U4 and 5Y3 rectifiers, and even a pair of 80's (I don't know how
many other four pin tubes there are as I only had a moment to look).

I think the ones I recognize are worth about $1000 on the open market,
and the rest I suspect are worth another $400, perhaps more. What
should I offer him for them.

What I do is ask how much _they_ want for them. You may walk away only
20-50 bucks poorer. Everybody is happy.

wb wrote:
I'd take a little more inventory of
what you have before offering $1000 ...
I think most people would simply take the cash
for a bunch of old light bulbs with pins on them ...
It's possible that you have allot of useless
TV or radio reciever tubes that may not be worth very much,
I really can't recall many 4 - pin tubes .. at least in audio
circuits.

The 5F6 tweed Bassman used an 83 rectifier, a 4-pin unit. It was
replaced by a GZ34 in the next iteration (5F6-A). If I had a 5F6
Bassman, I would retrofit it to get rid of the 83--it would suck to
have mercury all over your vintage amp in the event of tube breakage.

--E

Karl wrote:

I found a cabinet at work (an old church) full of old vacuum tubes and
want to make my boss an offer for them. They have been in a room that
is temp/humidity controlled to protect the archived tapes from old
broadcasts.

They look like they've never been cleaned off after being pulled from
old gear, so I'm sure they're NOS

NOS means NEW old stock. Pulled from old gear is used pulls.

, mostly GE and RCA but a few Amperex
and one Mullard (an EF86). There are some very old octals I don't
recognize. These make up perhaps 80% of the lot and could date from the
early days of radio. Of the ones I do recognize there are half a dozen
5AR4, 5U4 and 5Y3 rectifiers, and even a pair of 80's (I don't know how
many other four pin tubes there are as I only had a moment to look).

I think the ones I recognize are worth about $1000 on the open market,
and the rest I suspect are worth another $400, perhaps more. What
should I offer him for them.

BE CAREFUL. I wouldn't even be interested in the bulk of those tubes.

Why not offer to ebay and split profits???

And when they ask you what they are worth and why you are interested?

Just a question.

Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA

west wrote:

Karl wrote:

I found a cabinet at work (an old church) full of old vacuum tubes and
want to make my boss an offer for them. They have been in a room that
is temp/humidity controlled to protect the archived tapes from old
broadcasts.

They look like they've never been cleaned off after being pulled from
old gear, so I'm sure they're NOS, mostly GE and RCA but a few Amperex
and one Mullard (an EF86). There are some very old octals I don't
recognize. These make up perhaps 80% of the lot and could date from the
early days of radio. Of the ones I do recognize there are half a dozen
5AR4, 5U4 and 5Y3 rectifiers, and even a pair of 80's (I don't know how
many other four pin tubes there are as I only had a moment to look).

I think the ones I recognize are worth about $1000 on the open market,
and the rest I suspect are worth another $400, perhaps more. What
should I offer him for them.

What I do is ask how much _they_ want for them. You may walk away only
20-50 bucks poorer. Everybody is happy.

IT'S A CHURCH. I suggest that he offers to ebay and split proceeds.
EVERYONE wins.

The prices being quoted here are way above what you can get on the average
at Ebay. If you are opening a web tube shop and can afford to wait for
years to sell them--then maybe you can get those prices.

For example--I pick up 80 tubes for around $5 on Ebay. I've sold 5AR4 NIB
NOS RCA for between $10 and $15 at best.

I would stick to 10 cents a tube--then you will we sure to get your money
back.



"Karl" wrote in message
oups.com...
I found a cabinet at work (an old church) full of old vacuum tubes and
want to make my boss an offer for them. They have been in a room that
is temp/humidity controlled to protect the archived tapes from old
broadcasts.

They look like they've never been cleaned off after being pulled from
old gear, so I'm sure they're NOS, mostly GE and RCA but a few Amperex
and one Mullard (an EF86). There are some very old octals I don't
recognize. These make up perhaps 80% of the lot and could date from the
early days of radio. Of the ones I do recognize there are half a dozen
5AR4, 5U4 and 5Y3 rectifiers, and even a pair of 80's (I don't know how
many other four pin tubes there are as I only had a moment to look).

I think the ones I recognize are worth about $1000 on the open market,
and the rest I suspect are worth another $400, perhaps more. What
should I offer him for them.

Jim Anable wrote:
Karl wrote:

I found a cabinet at work (an old church) full of old vacuum tubes and
want to make my boss an offer for them. They have been in a room that
is temp/humidity controlled to protect the archived tapes from old
broadcasts.

They look like they've never been cleaned off after being pulled from
old gear, so I'm sure they're NOS

NOS means NEW old stock. Pulled from old gear is used pulls.

, mostly GE and RCA but a few Amperex
and one Mullard (an EF86). There are some very old octals I don't
recognize. These make up perhaps 80% of the lot and could date from the
early days of radio. Of the ones I do recognize there are half a dozen
5AR4, 5U4 and 5Y3 rectifiers, and even a pair of 80's (I don't know how
many other four pin tubes there are as I only had a moment to look).

I think the ones I recognize are worth about $1000 on the open market,
and the rest I suspect are worth another $400, perhaps more. What
should I offer him for them.

BE CAREFUL. I wouldn't even be interested in the bulk of those tubes.

Why not offer to ebay and split profits???

eBay prices are pitiful, especially if you don't have a good reputation
yet. I have never bought or sold, so I don't think I'd get them much.

As I've said, they are NOS. They don't look like they are used, pulled
and cleaned, then put in crisp new boxes. That first post was written
at 5:00 am or so and I worded it badly.

Karl wrote:

Jim Anable wrote:

Karl wrote:


I found a cabinet at work (an old church) full of old vacuum tubes and
want to make my boss an offer for them. They have been in a room that
is temp/humidity controlled to protect the archived tapes from old
broadcasts.

They look like they've never been cleaned off after being pulled from
old gear, so I'm sure they're NOS

NOS means NEW old stock. Pulled from old gear is used pulls.

, mostly GE and RCA but a few Amperex

and one Mullard (an EF86). There are some very old octals I don't
recognize. These make up perhaps 80% of the lot and could date from the
early days of radio. Of the ones I do recognize there are half a dozen
5AR4, 5U4 and 5Y3 rectifiers, and even a pair of 80's (I don't know how
many other four pin tubes there are as I only had a moment to look).

I think the ones I recognize are worth about $1000 on the open market,
and the rest I suspect are worth another $400, perhaps more. What
should I offer him for them.

BE CAREFUL. I wouldn't even be interested in the bulk of those tubes.

Why not offer to ebay and split profits???


eBay prices are pitiful, especially if you don't have a good reputation
yet. I have never bought or sold, so I don't think I'd get them much.

As I've said, they are NOS. They don't look like they are used, pulled
and cleaned, then put in crisp new boxes. That first post was written
at 5:00 am or so and I worded it badly.

So how do you intend to sell them?

BTW, other that RIPOFF "tifny", I've had pretty good luck with tubes on
ebay.

Ether wrote:
snip


The 5F6 tweed Bassman used an 83 rectifier, a 4-pin unit. It was
replaced by a GZ34 in the next iteration (5F6-A). If I had a 5F6
Bassman, I would retrofit it to get rid of the 83--it would suck to
have mercury all over your vintage amp in the event of tube breakage.

There's virtually no mercury in them. It's a vapor, at very low
pressure. There were also sodium vapor rectifiers, which supposedly
were the best detectors available at the time.

Bret Ludwig wrote:

Ether wrote:
snip


The 5F6 tweed Bassman used an 83 rectifier, a 4-pin unit. It was
replaced by a GZ34 in the next iteration (5F6-A). If I had a 5F6
Bassman, I would retrofit it to get rid of the 83--it would suck to
have mercury all over your vintage amp in the event of tube breakage.

There's virtually no mercury in them. It's a vapor, at very low
pressure. There were also sodium vapor rectifiers, which supposedly
were the best detectors available at the time.

Don't listen to Bret. He is uninformed & usually speaks thru his
ass. JLS

That is a good idea ... !
even though a inventory of sorts
IMO would justify a good return.

Hi,
I would be very careful not to count your chickens before they are
hatched, i.e. tested. I posted a similar question recently about a
mere 18 tubes I bought from a much larger box (250 +/-) of unknown
origin junked tubes, all "pulls" - and I selected them (miners would
call it "highrading"!). 7 were dead, 11 were OK "good" or better, for
a 39% reject rate. My final cost was CAN$1.36 per good tube.
Others have said "ask him what he wants". Good advice. My guess is
that unknown boxes of "pulls" will be between 30% and 50% dead For a
sight unseen box of glass "pulls" I would be reluctant to go over 20
cents per tube. IIRC, Mark Oppat had an inciteful comment on my post
(as always, tks Mark!)
For a really large box of "pulls", I'd pay even less money as your
marginal utility for each good one will become less the more you get.
For a known and qualified source of NOS tubes I would look them up on
the internet and offer for no more than 20 cents on the dollar.

BTW, this is a bit of a test post for me! My ISP (Rogers-yahoo In
Canada) has advisd me that they have just dumped Usenet support. My
Outlook Express NG server access just stopped working tonight so I'm
trying to get back in via Google. What a p*ss*r Hope this works!
Cheers, Vacuumlanders!
Merry Christmas,
Roger

Oops... sorry, that's "highgrading".
Cheers,
Roger

Jim Anable wrote:

So how do you intend to sell them?

I don't intend to sell them all. The ones I can use are the ones that I
recognize, and the rest are iffy as to whether I could find a buyer.
But to answer your question, I need to get an eBay account or sell them
to AES. I looked up some recent Mullard EF86's on eBay and the sellers
only got about $30. I keep hearing they're worth $100, but nobody's
getting that for them. If I can only get that much for a Mullard than
the only one "winning" is the lucky skunk who took a chance on my
auction and got the tube (you perhaps?;-). I'll never get full price
and neither will the church, but I might put that tube in a home made
AC15. I could conceiveably get more for the amp I build than the tubes,
offered with your choice of Amperex EF86, or for a slight upcharge you
can have a Mullard.

BTW, other that RIPOFF "tifny", I've had pretty good luck with tubes on
ebay.

Are you buying from known sellers with a long history of positive
feedback? Are you paying the "high" price for tubes or getting a
bargain? I'm not trying to bicker with you, I'm honestly curious as I
have no experience with eBay personally.

Anyway, I talked to the building manager and he'll talk to the AV
people, so it's in the hands of the bureaucracy now. And I hereby
pledge to be completely honest with them about my intentions and the
posible values of the tubes. But, I will insist that I'm offering the
high salvage value and point out the reasons it is fair for us both. If
they make a fuss I'll suggest your plan of splitting the proceeds. I
just hope I can talk them into letting me buy some for myself.

Karl wrote:

Jim Anable wrote:


So how do you intend to sell them?


I don't intend to sell them all. The ones I can use are the ones that I
recognize, and the rest are iffy as to whether I could find a buyer.
But to answer your question, I need to get an eBay account or sell them
to AES. I looked up some recent Mullard EF86's on eBay and the sellers
only got about $30. I keep hearing they're worth $100, but nobody's
getting that for them. If I can only get that much for a Mullard than
the only one "winning" is the lucky skunk who took a chance on my
auction and got the tube (you perhaps?;-). I'll never get full price
and neither will the church, but I might put that tube in a home made
AC15. I could conceiveably get more for the amp I build than the tubes,
offered with your choice of Amperex EF86, or for a slight upcharge you
can have a Mullard.


BTW, other that RIPOFF "tifny", I've had pretty good luck with tubes on
ebay.


Are you buying from known sellers with a long history of positive
feedback?

Yes, as well as others, if everything "smells right." The only time I
had a major problem was with "tifny", who had a decent rating, but lied
about the tubes, then lied on bogus feedback for me when I insisted on a
refund (because of misrepresentation).

For example, I bought a lot of 6L6GC that included an RCA Black plate,
Sylvania, GE and some Russian and Chinese. UNTESTED. Low feedback on
the seller. I took a chance. I think it was maybe 9 tubes, and 2 were
bad. My average cost was less than $10 a tube, though.

I hit my quota of Mullard preamp tubes a couple years back. At that
time, I was paying less than $15 for standard ECC83, and about $25 per
tube for long plates. ALL operate fine. One long plate tested WAY LOW.
Others tested used, but good. (I was buying used, not "NOS.") But
all sounded GREAT.

Are you paying the "high" price for tubes or getting a
bargain?

I always go for bargains.


I'm not trying to bicker with you, I'm honestly curious as I
have no experience with eBay personally.

Other than the oddball 7355 that I bought from RIPOFF tifny, I've been
happy with my ebay tube deals.


Anyway, I talked to the building manager and he'll talk to the AV
people, so it's in the hands of the bureaucracy now. And I hereby
pledge to be completely honest with them about my intentions and the
posible values of the tubes. But, I will insist that I'm offering the
high salvage value and point out the reasons it is fair for us both. If
they make a fuss I'll suggest your plan of splitting the proceeds. I
just hope I can talk them into letting me buy some for myself.

In article 1135191122.575491.277960
@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com,
says...
And when they ask you what they are worth and why you are interested?

Just a question.

Too easy...try "the truth".

You've got a hobbyist interest in old tube amps,
and it's impossible to tell what they're worth--
just because they're in boxes, doesn't mean they
aren't expended, re-boxed pulls.

BTW, other that RIPOFF "tifny", I've had pretty good luck with tubes on
ebay.

I never had any problems with her...got a few
Telefunken AX7s at a fair price.

wb wrote:
I'd take a little more inventory of
what you have before offering $1000 ...
I think most people would simply take the cash
for a bunch of old light bulbs with pins on them ...
It's possible that you have allot of useless
TV or radio reciever tubes that may not be worth very much,
I really can't recall many 4 - pin tubes .. at least in audio
circuits.

PX4, PX25 - check the e-bay prices on these. Nice DHTs but rare as
rocking horse doo-doo these days.
and, correct me if I'm wrong but aren't 2A3 and 300B sometimes
used for audio? ;-)

Andy

Not completely true. The 83 rectifier was very short lived with
probably less than 100 5F6's out of a total of 1300 or so having been
built with it. Introduced in June of '57 Fender had switched over to
the GZ34 before August '57. Well ahead of rolling out the 5F6A revision
in early to spring of '58.

Clarke

ether wrote:

The 5F6 tweed Bassman used an 83 rectifier, a 4-pin unit. It was
replaced by a GZ34 in the next iteration (5F6-A). If I had a 5F6
Bassman, I would retrofit it to get rid of the 83--it would suck to
have mercury all over your vintage amp in the event of tube breakage.

--E