One other thing I keep an eye out for at estate sales is old axes or hatchets. Many are pretty much worthless from a collector standpoint, but if they have a maker's mark and can be identified, there's a huge collector's market out there. I can find an axe in almost any garage, but there's a lot of newer Chinese stuff out there as well as some which just aren't worth the effort. But, I'll grab most any vintage axe with maker's marks. I've probably sold 50 axe heads over the years and the sellers haven't discovered there's a market for them, so I usually pay in the $3-$5 range when I find one. The best deal I made was a Swedish head I bought for $3 and it sold for close to $200! I say "head" because I learned long ago that shipping a complete axe with the handle would usually yield less profit than simply shipping the head only. (heads fit in a small, Priority Mail Flat Rate box). I have a woodpile of old axe and hatchet handles in the garage that I've cut off at the head. It's just a habit I've been in for quite some time and I figure most buyers would prefer mounting a new handle anyway. I buy an axe, cut off the handle, clean up the head with the wire wheel on my grinder, take it into my office and research it's history, determine a price, then list it for sale.
Well, I sold one a few days ago and am kicking myself in the ass for being so frigging stupid. I bought it for $3 at a sale then brought it home and did my usual routine ... cut, clean, research, sell. It turned out to be a hard piece to find on the net and sales were VERY few. That can mean two things, either it's undesirable and gets no attention, or it's very rare and there's not a ton of info or reference material. This one happened to be the latter. It tuned out to be a WWII issued axe that would be mounted on a Jeep. I listed the head for $87.50 and it sold immediately. (whenever that happens, I figure I under-priced it ... that's when an auction probably would have been a better choice)
Well, after chatting with the buyer, he said it's too bad the axe didn't have the original handle as he'd have happily paid $200 for the whole thing! He said the original handles are a bit different and described the differences to me. ARRRGGGGHHHH! The one I cut off was an original!! Who'da thunk it? I really thought it was a replacement handle since it was in almost pristine condition and would have looked brand new with some minor clean-up. He then told me how rare the handles are and he was lucky enough to find one about 5 years ago that he paid $85 for (handle only). He said the collectors will scramble for an original and they're rare as hen's teeth.
Needless to say, I've changed my routine. It's now - Buy - Research - "Maybe cut the handle off" - Price - Sell.
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Originally Posted by jb
