Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016 — Last night’s GTN was the debut of my now repaired 100th Anniversary Vibroplex Original No. 100A-365. It operates just as nicely as you might expect it too.
I bought new pivots, thinking that the hits that broke the keying lever’s main spring would have damaged the pivots (the hits were significant — they bent the pivot pin). The pivots were not damaged at all … they are not as delicate as the jeweled pivots can be. The shoulder of the jeweled pivots is thinner and I have had several damaged when the keying lever took hard hits from the front … the hits drove the lever thru the lip on the pivot. The lip or cup for non-jeweled pivots is much thinker and less prone to damage, apparently.
I had the opportunity to upgrade my 100th Anniversary with jeweled pivots; perhaps I should have taken advantage of the opportunity to do so. If I want, I can always buy new pivots and pivot pin I guess.
EBAY OBSERVATIONS. I have always believed key prices on eBay to be cyclical in nature — sometimes they run high, sometimes, not so much. Some of the prices leave me shaking my head at times — not-so-collectible keys sometimes bring what I consider to be astronomical prices. Of course, with the way auctions work, I’ve gotten caught up in bidding fever myself. I have waited until the final seconds before an auction ends, and then submitted an outrageously high bid to be fairly certain I’m going to win the auction — only to find out the second highest bid was much higher than I anticipated, and I wound up paying something approaching a king’s ransom for the item (most often a code key).
ROTOPLEX. You seldom see a Rotoplex bug on eBay — until November, when one appeared and on the day it sold a second was listed by a different seller. The second one had a Buy It Now price of $2,500, well over twice what the Rotoplex that sold before it.
I watched this one closely, the BIN price left me asking myself “How bad do you want to add that key to your collection?”
I own one already, and admittedly, I paid a pretty penny for it (thought not as high as the BIN price). The key didn’t sell for $2,500, and was relisted at $1,495 and then when it still didn’t sell the price was lowered to $1,200. I thought it would sell for that, but it sold to someone off eBay at an unknown price – a nice collectible key you just don’t see often.
At present there are a great many very nice keys listed on eBay at premium prices (my opinion!). Some premium prices I’ve seen include:
- a McElroy P-500 bug in very nice condition with a Buy It Now of $225;
- a nice and complete Lionel J-36 bug, missing the celluloid label (of course!) for $249.99;
- an early postwar Vibroplex Original missing the nameplate with a rough refinish of the base for $249.99;
- a 1953 Champion in very nice condition with BIN of $185;
- a 1910 Vibroplex Double Lever with a BIN of $600.
But I’ve seen some key sell at some bargain prices too — prices that would have prompted me to jump in the bidding with both feet, including:
- a well-used but serviceable Vibroplex Champion for $40 plus shipping;
- a gray-base 1960s Vibroplex Original in dirty but serviceable condition for $41 plus shipping;
- a Vibrocube Standard finish for $126;
- a pair of J-36 keys (a Vibroplex and a Lionel) for $125 (!);
- a Knoxville nameplate new condition Original for $100;
- a Knoxville nameplate Iambic for $85;
- a WWII-era Champion with tin nameplate AND a 1966 Original for $89!
There are still bargains to be had, but I’m really interested in acquiring something I don’t already own; though that gets me into the higher prices for keys like the Model-X, etc. All it takes is money, hi hi.
Time to turn in … 73 es GN de KY4Z SK … dit … dit