Getting an Appraisal

Hey All,

My Job is a printing company based in Monroe, LA & has been in business since 1948. We have some old Linotype machines that the owner wants to get appraised before she decides what she wants to do with them. they’re in pretty bad shape (roof has been leaking) so we’re trying to see if they’d be best suited for scraps, parts, or selling it. does anyone know of any appraisers in the area who would be good to call to come & take a look at them?
-Ash

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My 2 cents worth.
Cost of an appraiser, if you can find one will be more than you will ever get from their sale.

Take some pictures, give as many details as possible on the Linotypes and this forum will give you and the owner a good idea of their worth.

Biggest issue as far as worth on Linotype/Intertype machines is moving them. If you can give potential buyers a decent amount of time to make plans for their removal, value goes up some.

Any spare parts? What if any magazines are included.

Marshall
proud owner of a model 5 Linotype

for the most part, she told me that they’re not really worth much but for parts…they were being used for a while though, our company Just moved to a smaller building this past spring.

image: linotype1.jpg

linotype1.jpg

image: linotype3.jpg

linotype3.jpg

image: linotype2.jpg

linotype2.jpg

What models are they?
From the pictures, looks like parts machines.
Still have some value for parts.
How quickly would they have to be moved and what is access to trailer like would be next questions potential buyer would ask before committing to purchase offer.

Marshall

I’m in Alexandria, but sadly do not need any linotype machines. Are there any other pieces of printing equipment?

is there any range as far as what the parts would go for?

yes, we have a couple windmills, cutters, envelope feeders, a folder & a stitcher that i’m researching as well.

It is sad that people to not purchase a plastic cloth to cover equipment placed in storage.

A cheap drop cloth from the hardware store cost less than $10 to cover equipment. If people did that, a Linotype with rust is not worth thinking about vs a covered machine worth $2,000 if working.

so i need to find out all the model & make info before i’ll know what the parts would be worth?

Please e-mail photos of the Windmills - [email protected].

Hi Arp!

I would be interested in the lead feeders if you are unable to sell the machines outright. It certainly would be a shame for them to end up as scrap. I’m in Georgia so too far for me to travel.

JW

Dave Seat may be interested in salvaging parts, but these machines appear to be more trouble than they are worth to repair.

Sad. For want of a cover, these machines are lost.

mjb

The problem with selling Linotypes for parts is that it’s not something you’re going to do in a short period of time. You’d have to advertise what you have, and wait for the requests to come in. The timespan of this process is months to years. There aren’t enough interested people around.

As for what they’re worth intact, don’t get too excited. It’s rare that you see a machine in good condition go for anything more than $1000. I’ve also seen free or cheaper machines go to scrap because nobody wanted them. Selling three together, you might be able to ask $1500 for the set.

The machine in the middle photo appears to be a salvageable machine, the others appear to be in rough shape. Sometimes flash rust looks worse in the light of a camera flash than it actually is, so having a Linotype enthusiast look at them wouldn’t hurt, but I wouldn’t waste your time and money on an appraiser.

Some perspective — There’s $700 worth of Linotypes in this photo, but I invested around $3000 to move and store the machines before they ended up in my garage.

image: backofgarage.jpg

backofgarage.jpg