My Xenar 480mm mounted from Sinar on a Sinar board, in almost new condition for 400 Swiss bucks!
Cheers Armin
My Xenar 480mm mounted from Sinar on a Sinar board, in almost new condition for 400 Swiss bucks!
Cheers Armin
Local Craig's List offering on this past Monday for a Zone VI enlarger for a ridiculously low price. A quick phone call verified the ad was for a living estate sale and the guy told me there were several accessories that were also included. Picked it all up yesterday and literally filled the whole of my Explorer with the Zone VI 60" Column variable contrast head enlarger, three Schneider Componon S lenses, three negative carriers, plus the following Zone VI items, motorized focus control, compensating enlarging timer, compensating developing timer, Zone VI safe light, powered anti static brush, 16x20 Zone VI washing machine plus the 16x20 (Zone VI) print washer, wet print viewer, Zone VI 8x10 contact print frame, and 12 Zone VI drying screens, 1-16x20 premier paper safe, 9-11x14 Premier paper safes, 5 Patterson 16x20 print trays, 15-11x14 Patterson print trays,1-boxed 16x20 tray ladder,10-5 gallon chemical tanks, 9-2 gallon chemical tanks, Kodak process thermometer, 15-Patterson graduates in varying sizes, 8-Patterson 64oz. beakers, numerous tongs, squeegees, and film clips, lots of packaged Kodak and Zone VI chemistry, and finally an Enesco Speedmaster color densitometer. Absolutely every item is in mint, unused or even a few new in box condition and several of the Zone VI accessories were still packaged. Absolutely the buy of a lifetime....total $200.00 for everything. I think my new darkroom will be a very happy place!
"One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude." Carl Sandburg
I'm so stoopid... I'd have told the seller what that lot was really worth and probably walked away empty-handed.
Old n feeble,
I had actually talked with him a few months ago and looked at the enlarger then when he posted a Craig's list ad for "Camera gear". At that time I told him what the enlarger went for in the 1998 Calumet catalog, the most recent one I had. He had a good knowledge that it was valuable, but when he posted this ad, he just wanted all the darkroom gear out of his way so he could concentrate on the camera gear, the fly tying and fishing gear, the guns and loading equipment and more items from all the other "hobbies" that his dad enjoyed. He's still got a very comprehensive (and mint) Zone Vi camera system with three stunning Schneider lenses, digital pentax spot meter, plus holders, bag, etc., plus a near mint Hasse 500CM with lenses; but he's got a much more realistic idea of the value (and what he hopes to get) for those.
"One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude." Carl Sandburg
lenser... Wow, that guy have been really desperate to get that stuff out of his way. I deeply respect your honesty with him.
Well, what is it worth, these days? Positively not 1990 catalogue value. Many of us here got their pro darkrooms for metal value or transport cost, and we have plenty of instances of darkrooms that were scrapped after the owners found nobody who'd transport them off for free...
Don't misunderstand what I meant. If after I told the seller what I think it's worth they still just wanted to dump it for cheap then I'd definitely take it.
Sevo,
I absolutely agree that the value of much of the collection isn't worth even a fraction of it's original sale value. But for me, it's the amazement of the size of the collection, the fact that it is all Zone VI or items that they trusted enough to sell in the original Zone VI catalog (and subsequently as Calumet), and the amazingly near new condition of absolutely every item, and then to couple that with this still phenomenally low price. I certainly understand your allusion to gear that is often free. In the past, I've been given enlargers as part of deals and had to eventually just pass them on to others simply to get them out of my garage. This just had a higher level of "Holy Cow!" attached to it.
"One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude." Carl Sandburg
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