HELLO
Many sites list the value of vintage nibs .The best known is probably Nibs.com
I have always believed that the nib is the pen .Lousy nib =lousy pen no matter what it looks or feels like so I often buy based on value of the nib.
What i have noticed on E-bay is that almost all pens sell for less than supposed value OF THE NIB .In many cases for far less .I bought a nice Sheaffer with a Lady Sheaffer nib (75 buck value -nibs .com) and there is no way i can sell a pen with that nib for even close to $75. This is repeated on almost all auctions.Are these valuations simply nonsense or am i just getting a great bargain when i buy a pen for less than its nib"Value"
I now want to sell these pens but have a tough time selling a pen with a great Lifetime nib for less than the 'POSTED " nibs value .
Comments appreciated
Keith

Vintage values are usually based on supply and demand rather than performance. Also whatever price a dealer lists for sales is probably twice or more what he buys at.

First of all someone's selling price is not a "value."
There is a difference between the value and the selling price.
If selling price were value, then I know a Wearever that is "worth" the $300 a local antique shop owner has set the selling price!

Think about car parts at the junkyard. The junkyard buys the car for $100. They sell a fender for $50, a hood for $25, a seat for $25, etc... the value of the parts separately outweighs the value of the junked item.

Same with pens. A parts pen is cheaper than the sum of buying individual parts.

On eBay you never know exactly what you'll get until it is in your hand. With John Mottishaw, nibs.com, I know *exactly* what I'm getting.

The value of pen parts is what someone is willing to pay. If someone had some Waterman 52 RHR barrels, the would be worth quite a bit to me. Same with a rose ripple 52V barrel.

With selling complete pens, a lot has to do with what's in demand. If you have a bunch of shadow wave Parkers, you won't have any trouble selling them even if they all had bad nibs missing the tipping material on one tine. If you have a bunch of small size Sheaffers, maybe even ring tops, they will be a hard sell. That model just is not that popular, and people seem to prefer bigger pens.

So, I would buy the pen first, and then buy the nib. Nibs can be exchanged, repaired, retipped, reground.

Why does John Mottishaw want $75 for that nib? Well, he has a great reputation, is well known, he inspects it, lists it on his website, probably guarantees it, and takes your credit card payment. Way more than you get with a junk pen on eBay.

Only rare pens are good investments. Common pens and those not in demand by collectors will be tough to sell at a profit. Buy pens you love and want to own you can't go wrong. If you want to make a profit, learn all you can and search out rare and desirable pens that others may not notice or know much about.

Thanks for the comments.
I BUY PENS PRIMARILY FOR MY OWN ENJOYMENT BUT ALSO DO SOME SELLING WHEN I GET TOO MANY.My approach has been to buy quality nibs and then match them with a great pen.If I see a nice Diamond Medal #8 I buy it and then look for a pen that fits.Often I can't find the right pen and I then want to sell the nib but it bugs me to sell a pen for $12.00 with a nice Sheaffer 46 special attached.I am thinking about offering some nibs to Nibs.com rather than putting them in a pens.
I agree about the parts being worth more than a pen.I sold 9 working pens all cheapies for $20.00 bucks .No way you could buy the nibs,stubs,feeds and levers for that price never mind the barrels and caps.I now use these type of pens for parts rather than sell a working Wearever with a new $2.00 sac ,for 2.00.
I am new to collecting(ONLY A YEAR) and have changed my approach many times . Perhaps I will start looking for rare pens, at least a few ,and then match the nib to the pen.
HAVE A GREAT XMAS !!
KEITH

So, I would buy the pen first, and then buy the nib. Nibs can be exchanged, repaired, retipped
reground.



Well, I have yet to find someone who can re-tip a PFM.

Anyone who is in the business of selling nibs has to buy at wholesale prices and sell at retail prices. In most cases the selling price by a nib seller will need to be between double and triple the price they buy the nibs for. The nib seller has costs to cover, including tieing up thier money in their stock plus their time doing advertising, maintaining their sales website, cleaning up nibs they take in, and they need to make a healthy profit after all of that. The prices you see pens go for on Ebay, and the much higher prices you see on nib seller sites, takes this into account. If you want to buy and sell on Ebay, you need to forget the nib prices on nib seller sites and concentrate on what Ebay auction values are as they will be the real selling values that you will get for your pens and nibs.

As I buy mostly vintage I see the same all the time. I would guess that 30% of the vintage purchases I have made for a FP are not equal to the value of a nib itself. Here is my theory. A brand new nib alone has a certain value (i.e. Esterbrooks from $12 to $30) BUT, when you take this new nib and put in on a FP barrel that needs restoration or has some damage, that in a since reduces the value of the nib. You are buying the whole which will cost you more money to restore. I pay close attention to the nib when I buy a vinatge FP and try to keep in mind it's value. I have paid $25 for a FP that has a cracked barrel but the nib was in real good shape and worth it. The other side of the theory is that........well, you just get lucky sometimes.

Please note that I have also purchased pens that have a nib that is shot to (Potty Mouth) and back but the barrel and cap is in excellent shape.....awaiting a nice new nib.

Edit - I used the Cr*p word not the one that starts with Sh..