Prices are crazy high.

[Dwayne Henson]

Can't find the dang modify button.
  But should have also added that this new high price trend seems to have no correlation with condition. In many cases condition does not matter. If a beautifully cleaned and seasoned #9 skillet in perfect shape sold for this much, a crudded up piece or a less than ideal piece is worth the same, just because they are the same size, inspite of the condition issues. On FB fantasy land when a crudded jacked up #9 skillet is shown and value is asked for, the price given is the price the perfect piece obtained. I'm afraid when the correction comes and cast iron is no longer the flavor of the month, many are going to be hurt.

[Jonathan Sutton]

I agree with much of what has been said. I only pay what an item is worth to *me*. I have been watching Griswold heart/star waffle irons on ebay lately. One of them went for not much (~$150 I'm still kicking myself for not trying a little harder), but another one on right now is over $300 (granted, it is in great condition), probably due to a last-minute bidding war. Sometimes all it takes is two people with deep pockets who just have to beat the other guy.

All that said, I am primarily a user of my stuff (and it mostly all gets used regularly), so I figure that even if I overpay now, after all the use and enjoyment I get out of it, the price I pay doesn't really matter to me.

[Valerie Johnson]

I sold around 300 pieces of iron on eBay last year. I start almost all of my items at $9.99, even the high dollar pieces

 If that works for you that is great, Myself I would rather not take the chance on eBay going down or power or cable/ internet outages in areas where one or more of the the bidders are located, By starting my bid at the lowest price I will settle for I am not disappointed if it only gets one bid and like I stated if it does not sell I just keep it or continue to relist it until it sells. With eBays 10% final value fees on both the item and shipping you can get in the red real quickly if you are not careful with your listings. I have 2 eBay accounts, One for sewing Machines and Sewing related items and another account for pottery and other household items,Total sales for both user ID's is just over 5000 items with a 100% feedback on both user ID's

[Cheryl Watson]

Can't find the dang modify button

Psst... Psst... Dwayne.....
Remember to look for the Update Session tab up top whenever 'buttons' do a disappearing act... remember that changing devices and IP Addresses trips the need to "update session"....  ;) ;)

[C. Perry Rapier]

Hello Valerie. That sure is some record you have there with your eBay sales. Congratulations. You obviously are a good person to work with.

[Jim Glatthaar]

I agree, Perry, this is a great thread.  Thanks to Janis for starting it and thanks to everyone for posting some rather candid opinions.  This is one of the great characteristics of the Forum, the exposure to so many diverse opinions.  I had no idea we had so many active sellers here on the Forum.  It also answered a question I have long had: it must be Perry running up prices whenever I bid on something :o :o :o :o

[Janis Berzins]

I feel like a super star right now!

[Marge Knowles]

I think it is hysterical when an item is listed as RARE, and the seller is asking $89.99   ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Cheryl Watson]

I think it is hysterically ridiculous when I see an unrestored item (always rare), listed at 2 times book value too....

Folks need to actually READ the preface to the books...

All values are predicated on EXCELLENT RESTORED condition, because of course, 'one' can NOT "know" the true condition until appropriately restored.

These are the basic precepts that Spacebook and Internet land ... just... don't ... get!   ::)

[C. Perry Rapier]

I feel like a super star right now!

Now don't let this go to your head Janis. You know what they say, 'a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then'.  ;D ;D

Of course you know I am just kidding.  :)

Yes Jim, you got it right. I am the 'runner up man'. It come a hair costing me five thousand dollars on ebay one time. I kept running this piece up and running it up. And then there it sat for DAYS on my high bid. And somebody sniped it in the last five seconds. I was sweating bullets. Oh but I would have bought it if I won it. I was at an auction one time and they started this piece off at a hundred dollars or so and then it was bumping up in twenty five dollar increments, when it got to 175.00 I bid a thousand dollars on it. That made them wonder.  ;D ;D ;D

Another time I was at an auction and I was bidding on a piece and I went into the restroom and the auctioneer hollered, 'hey where is my bidder at'? I heard him hollering and the bidding kept going and when I came out of the restroom I started bidding on the piece again.

[Adam Hoagland]

[size=12]There is another recent post on this forum where a person is asking for an ident and pricing on a Griswold slant-logo marked No. 1 Gem pan.  I brought up the topic of the yellow book, and myself and others also added that yellow book pricing is way high by today's standards.  But, unless that book never was accurate about pricing in the first place, it should serve as proof of a sort to anybody collecting iron that prices can fluctuate, and that not all iron is actually selling at an all-time high.  Muffin pans are not at an all-time high, provided that they really were selling that well in 1997 when the yellow book was new.

Point being, just because things are trending high right now doesn't mean that they will always stay there.  I didn't start collecting antique iron until 2006, so I can't talk with the voice of personal experience, but Perry said several posts back on this thread that prices were really terribly high in the '80s, back when cyberspace was just a gleam in William Gibson's eye.  I would still hesitate to embrace the notion that today's high tags, whether or not they really are being pumped up by Facebook or E-bay or (insert your favorite or least favorite website here), are the new norms and don't stand a decent chance of dropping over the next five years.  [/size]

[C. Perry Rapier]

Hello Adam. I know the Author of the Yellow Book. And he is a stand up guy. The prices in the Yellow Book were accurate prices at that time. Its supply and demand. People seen what cast iron pieces could be sold for. And so people started looking for them and finding them and putting them on the market (ebay). I started collecting over thirty years ago. And I wish I had all my money back and start over today. I'd have all the pieces I got today and a WHOLE LOT MORE MONEY. The Griswold Santas, IF you found one and you could get it for under eight hundred dollars you had better jump on it. I have given three times what some of the pieces are bringing today.

[Jonathan Sutton]

Hello Adam. I know the Author of the Yellow Book. And he is a stand up guy. The prices in the Yellow Book were accurate prices at that time. Its supply and demand. People seen what cast iron pieces could be sold for. And so people started looking for them and finding them and putting them on the market (ebay). I started collecting over thirty years ago. And I wish I had all my money back and start over today. I'd have all the pieces I got today and a WHOLE LOT MORE MONEY. The Griswold Santas, IF you found one and you could get it for under eight hundred dollars you had better jump on it. I have given three times what some of the pieces are bringing today.

And to add insult to injury, the 80's and 90's prices haven't been adjusted for inflation, so you really would have been better off waiting until now!

[Jim Glatthaar]

Perry, nobody can't say you aren't dedicated.  Coming out of the restroom bidding like a mad man?  Talk about street cred at the auction 8-)

Once at a silent auction I was the high bidder and I outbid myself 3 times just to make a point.  I was probably an idiot.

[C. Perry Rapier]

Perry, nobody can't say you aren't dedicated.  Coming out of the restroom bidding like a mad man?  Talk about street cred at the auction 8-)

Once at a silent auction I was the high bidder and I outbid myself 3 times just to make a point.  I was probably an idiot.

Jim I was at this auction one time and it was going kind of s l o w. And so I started bidding against myself. The first time the auctioneer stopped the auction and asked the owner of the auction house if I could bid against myself. He said he's registered to bid and he has got a bidding number so let him bid all he wants. Whereas before they thought I was nuts, they knew it now. That was a good auction too.

[Jonathon Davis]

Here's a recent Martin piece that sold on eBay for quite a bit. Three have sold on eBay in the past 1.5 years. The first sold for $135 (without lid), the second sold for $240 (with lid), and this one sold for $355 (with lid). Book value on a set with lid is $75-$100.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/311657133609

I've seen enough Martin sell in the past two years to say that book values (for Martin) are out the window, at least for now. I honestly can't remember the last piece of Martin that sold on there for less than book. Hard to find pieces usually bring 3-5 times the book price.

Rare pieces like dutch oven trivets, sauce pans, advertising pieces (besides the Ballard griddle), Perfection lids, and toys can bring as much as 10 times the book value. A #5 sauce pan (with lid) sold a few months back and went for over $650 (book value, $75-$85).  :o :o :o

Makes me wish I would have been a Martin collector 15 years ago when I was a teenager!  >:(

[C. Perry Rapier]

Jonathon when you were a teenager I imagine that you were like everybody else. Collecting cast iron was the least thing on your mind. And probably NEVER on your mind.  ;D

[Cheryl Watson]

Stop making me feel sooo old.........!!!

Teenager? what's that?  ;D ;D ;D

[Jim Glatthaar]

Cheryl, if you ever watch TV, teenager are younger than those scantily clad people you see on the beach drinking beer and eating hot dogs :o