Worth $2500??

Is this a deal or a hope?
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/clt/552168321.html

Clearly this is not a collectors item or an antique of any kind. Not worth 10% of that would be my feelings. Who knows what condition the optics are in or whether it was a premium scope when made.

Keith Armitage said:

Is this a deal or a hope?
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/clt/552168321.html

As others have said, this is certainly not 100 years old nor is it worth $2500. To me it looks like probably a 76mm F/16 Japanese Achromat from ~1960s though it could be a bit older or newer. It also could be a 60mm, it is hard to tell from the photo.

If it is a 76mm and in very good condition it might be worth $250 to a collector. Not long ago I looked at a Sears 90mm, the 90mm's are are quite rare and definitely collectable. It was in restorable condition and I could have had it for $200 but declined as I am an observer rather than a restorer and it had 0.965 inch focuser anyway...

I did tell the guy if he would ship it, he could probably get more than $250... He didn't want to ship it but someone contacted him, offered him $1000 for the scope and $500 to ship it.

But that was a rare 90mm that a collector had been looking for and badly wanted. This scope looks to be a scam to me.

Jon

A deal? Not to ME it ain't.

Who knows? Could be worth that to a collector--unless it's _really_ a 1980s Jason.

All,

I just called him and he didn't know the maker, model, size or focal length of the instrument. He said that it was given to him for a job he did. My guess is that he is not trying to rip anyone off. I think that he is selling it for what he was told it was worth by the person that gave it to him. We shall see. He is supposed to call me back with the info.

Keith

My sense is that if you pay $2500 for a scope like that you shouldn't need to ASK if it's a good deal. You should already know: because you recognize the seller, the brand, or something else like it. Because you've owned them before and have been around people who have. There are a few items I have bid for on ebay for which I have a strong sense of the value; I bid low and if I win it I get it and if others also see it I don't win it and that's that. If you're going to pay "going rate" for some of these things, you can get them most any time--even a lot of scarce AP stuff.

For $2500 you can get a used NP101 which would be superior to that "rare" instrument in every respect.

Incidentally, it is not out of the question that he hit the zero twice. The ad is poorly edited.

regards
Greg N