Help! estimated value? brass fonts

Try renaming the photo something simple without any special characters like punctuation — just letters and numbers. The site is a bit fussy about filenames.

Bob

http://www.mobikerz.com/kingsley-type.html
Seems they go for 75.00 average

The files are named “1.jpg” “2.jpg” etc, cannot get much simpler then that. Thanks.

As for the link to Kingsley type, thanks, but, those fonts are ‘lead’ ours are for the most part brass. I’m guessing there is a significant difference in cost from the little I do know.

List them somewhere and wait for the offers come in. The market determines the value of these things. Everyone has different motivations for buying, and different prices that they’re willing to offer. If you’re listing them locally, don’t expect to attract big dollars, that’s just how it works for oddball niche items like this.

Hi feico112,
If they are brass then they were most likely for a hot foil machine. Brass was used for hot foil since it could heat and not melt as easy as lead.

The price for these kind of items can vary quite a bit. You can’t just take a picture and think it can determine the value. There is ALOT of this stuff still available, so the price is soley determined on the buyer.

To me it would be worth $1. To Typenut it seems $75. To some hobbyist or school maybe alot more.

Just because these are brass really means nothing. It really doesn’t add value. If you are sure they are brass then have them melted down, they may be worth more that way.

A couple of questions to help determine value:

1. Are they complete sets? If they are not, then they are worthless since completing the set would take finding more. A lot of times with old drawers full of lead/brass the sets are incomplete. If your grandfather used these as true production then I am sure some got damaged, and some went missing.

2. How many sets are there in total? How many of them are complete, and how many are incomplete.

3. What sizes are they? The larger, normally better.

4. Has they been beaten out of shape? If it was used often then it could be damaged from overuse. This is pretty common with old wood type and lead.

There is a chance the actual case could be worth more then the type inside it. The case looks pretty cool.

I am sure this is not what you want to hear, esp when it has a family value to it.

The best way to determine value would be to just put it online for sale. You can use Briarpress and eBay as good sources. Maybe even Craigslist. Put a price you think its worth. You’ve heard what people on here have told you, but If you think its worth $300, $400, $1k or even $5k then just list it at that price.

Location can matter with price, too. If you’re in a large metropolitan area, you may well get a higher price for your type than if you live in a very rural one simply because you’re more likely to connect with local buyers in a big city. Folks generally aren’t willing to pay quite as much for something they’ll also have to pay to ship. I didn’t see anything stating where you’re located. Care to share?

Your non-brass founts are probably zinc. This was also manufactured for foil stamping. It’s not quite as durable as brass but moreso than typemetal. The Kingsley type linked above is mostly zinc with a few founts of brass type listed as well.
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Michael Hurley
Titivilus Press
Memphis, TN