2. vintage
  3. 183761-159766

Tubes, Tubes and more Tubes...

So I inherited probably over 500+ vintage tubes 9 pins, Octals, some strange ones that look like 16-pins and some 4-pins that look like mini 300Bs. They are from an old radio station that used them in their equipment and also in radio repair in the 50's through the 70's. Once they switched over to new equipment in the 70s and 80s all the tubes were all shelved. I've pulled the ones I can use for my equipment (6SN7GTBs, 12SN7GTB,s 6BQ7As, 12AU7,12AT7s) but I'm not sure what to do with the rest. They are 98% NOS in boxes, Mostly RCA but lots of Tung-Sol, Amprex and PhilipsECG with the used ones marked. I was thinking of listing them on Reverb but... It's soooo many it would take years and most are singles. What would you do? 

ruraldave1

Showing 2 responses by dill

dill
2,432 posts
 

They are not going to be worth much unless they have been tested. Tube dealers will want them super cheap. Even though they are in the boxes doesn't mean they are NOS, they need to test NOS. I have sold 3400 tubes in a year and a half using eBay & Craigslist. 

dill
2,432 posts
 

"This is from personal experience, which I don’t believe you have heard from yet."

- Evidently you haven’t read all the responses on this topic. I sold 3500+ tubes in 1 1/2 years working on them part time, he only has 500+. All one has to do is write up an inventory, see what they sold for retail & on ebay. Tubes are easy to pack & ship. Then group the lower price tubes and sell the higher priced one in singles, pairs or quads. All the tubes have to be tested with test results included for the more valuable ones. All low value tubes can be sold as a lot on Craigslist. After expenses I made just shy of 24 grand and a about 1/3 of them where used. Step one is looking up the sold value of the tubes to determine whether or not it’s worth your time.

"It is expensive to store & grade & catalog & value all your tubes to eventually sell."

- Not if one does it themselves and puts in the time.

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