MENDHAM, N.J. – A third edition of A Price Guide to Antique Tools has been issued by Astragal Press, expanded to factor in prices realized from tool sales on the Internet.
Antique tool prices in this edition – a total of over 12,000 individual and chart combinations – are averaged from recent live and electronic auctions, as well as from the author’s knowledge of general market trends. It covers tools from top-of-the-line treasures to common flea market pieces.
Tool collecting, author Herbert Kean believes, is reaching its maturity, where condition, signature, and provenance reign supreme and top condition and/or rare pieces bring increasingly higher prices.
The prices listed in this volume cover tools that are available in the marketplace, with explanations for each tool group to help readers classify that most critical of all factors, condition. The chapter on American wooden planes is at the same time simple and comprehensive, covering over 400 makers, each graded with a single value number.
New to this edition is a section on Internet auctions, where the author explains the mechanisms of electronic, auctions and shares some of his secrets for successful bidding.
The 160-page guide is available at $17.95 from Astragal Press, P.O. Box 239, Mendham, N.J., 07945, 973-543-3045; or check the publishers Web site at www.astragalpress.com.
