I'm not sure how to organize text around pictures or how many pics I can post but I'll just add some, add others to a follow-up post, and answer any questions later.

Lynn,

Those are some nice pens! Is the first one a combo?

Al

Yes the first is a combo. All Wahl combos are rare but this color is moreso. This is the same pen pictured in the F&S Blue Book.

Thanks a lot for the pictures Lynn, the pens look amazing!
I'll use the opportunity to raise a question, as a very, very uneducated collector I am: how do you evaluate the degradation of the pens you buy, and how is this evaluation affecting the price of the pen?
To be more precise, I'll give an example: I was tempted to bid this pen: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...4.cWAT.m240.lVI, but the color looked so bad, and the price was heading north of one hundred (based on the 70 bucks price hours before the auction ending, I expected it to be much more at the closing) so I decided it doesn't worth it. How do you, more experienced collectors, see this?

To be honest, after seeing these pens, Ebay's offer looks so dissapointing...

The problem with this pen on ebay is that it has areas on it that are discolored. Discoloration degrades the value of a vintage fountain pen highly because there isn't any way to remove the discoloration--it is the result of sulfur released in the latex(i.e.,rubber)parts of the pen,and that sulfur osmoses into the celluloid permanently. In spite of this,however,desire for Wahl-Eversharp Gold Seal & Signature Series pens remains high enough that people will pay high prices for them.

John

There are a lot of factors in the value of a pen. The one you cite is a decoband, a very desirable pen - generally. That one is very discolored and (whether the buyer knows it or not) it does not have the correct nib. The large gold seal nib is worth 100 or more alone. I think 172 was high as it is. But if this pen had been good color and had the correct nib and was right otherwise, it would be perhaps a $350 value. Discoloration is a killer to collectors. The jade decoband I showed above I did so because it is probably the best color in jade decobands I have ever seen. It is perfectly clean mint jade, very very rare. Jade and black and pearl are the most prone to discoloration. Collectors are looking for specimens with only a little discoloration, those with more are bought as collection placeholders or as users. On the other hand, if you are not trying to assemble a collection of the best condition pens you can find, and you want to use them, pens that are discolored and/or have incorrect but good nibs can be a real bargain. Anyway, your main question can't be answered with any kind of formula. It's just a matter of degree. If a certain pen in pretty nice condition sells for $500, the same pen truly mint will probably be 1000 or more. It is a real case of diminishing returns. In other words, as condition gets better and better, each little increment of condition will cost more and more. By the way, the most uneducated collector is the one that doesn't know (or worse believe) that he is uneducated and doesn't ask good questions like yours. Unfortunately the only way to get educated is to acquire more and more experience and ask more and more questions. Watching ebay auctions is good, although ebay can throw some real curves with pens selling for too much or not enough often. But over time the market levels and if you watch ebay and sales here and on pentrace you will gradually get a feel. When in doubt ask. It's fun to post an auction (as long as you have no vested interest in it) and ask for guesses as to what it will close at. Hope this helps.

Ebay is certainly up and down when it comes to quality and price. Lynn is absolutely right in that if a Jade gold seal Deco Band model came up with very nice colour it would easily break $300. I remember seeing one several years ago mint with a sticker going in the mid $700's, it being the best I had seen to date.
For this particular pen that went off on Ebay I don't think the $175 was completely out of line if it could be easily restored and someone were to have it as a user. I personally would be a buyer in the $100-125 range for one with colour like this, and maybe slightly more if it had the correct nib.
I just figured another opinion couldn't hurt. I do already own one with better colour then the one auctioned off but not near as nice as Lynn's for a reasonable price, and off of ebay.

oh and just another quick note those are some beautiful pens Lynn. I'm fortunate enough to own 1 combo myself, but that particular colour is quite nice. The triple set is stunning!