I'm an eight-year-old collector, and i suggest we go home to the old house, the storage room, the attic, and maybe you're hiding something you're missing
A few days ago, a friend of shandong's left me a message in the comment section, which was filled with endless regrets:
His home was refurbished, an old-fashioned, 350-yard bell from his attic, and the wooden shell was a little varnished, but the core, the clock, the pointers were all in place and the strings were able to walk normally. He felt that the item had been removed from his cell phone, clocks, sunk and taken over, and that 35 dollars from the copper core had been sold to the scrap, and that the wood shells had been thrown directly into the fire。
As a result, it became clear to me that when he sold the full 350-calendar clock in the 1950s, when the collection market was in good shape and able to walk normally, the market price was $12,000, or more than $3,000, even if there were minor usage marks。
"my grandfather worked his whole life, and this bell was a prize for his best worker, and he was with him for the rest of his life, and i sold it for a few dozen dollars, and my father was so angry that he didn't talk, and i was so sorry."
In fact, 90% of the people who do not know that the old bells and bells that were on the walls of the household living room are now popular collections of collections, retrophies, folklore, and treasures that countless collectors have taken。
It was one of the “triple-turns” necessary for marriage in the 1950’s and 1980’s, and it was the family memory of several generations of chinese. The 30-dollar bell that saved months’ wages to buy, is now a perfect and full-fledged classic, with market prices generally at 2000–10,000, and scarce funds can be sold to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of times。
Too many people do not know its value, either by selling dozens of pieces of scrap metal, or by tearing down the core of the machine, by throwing it in the corner, or by breaking it up for the children and losing a fortune。
Today, an old player who's been collecting for eight years, shares all the collections, valuable models, pit shelter guides. It's the real deal inside the collection. It's the big deal. Go home and find it。
Why are ordinary clocks now worth more and more
A lot of people don't understand. Isn't that an old clock? Now you can read time on your cell phone, watch, why would you sell tens of thousands of dollars? In fact, it's not a game at all, and behind it are three solid core logics, each of which has a fundamental value。
First, non-renewable scarcity is at the bottom of the rise in value. Root
The classic old-fashioned machine clock, which was largely completely cut off in the 1990s, would no longer be repeated in a typical form and was an absolute non-renewable resource。
The clocks of the year were high-frequency items used by households, the vast majority of which were disposed of as scraps, used, old cores and scraps. After 60 to 70 years of sedimentation, there will only be fewer and fewer complete machines that can be fully preserved today, all the parts in their original form, the shell is intact, and when they can walk normally。
They are scarcely expensive, the supply from the source is increasing, the number of collectors and nostalgics is increasing, and the price rises naturally. At the domestic folklore fair in 2025, a german treasure bell was imported in its entirety in 1953, at a final exchange price of $180,000。
Second, it's the old wind that's become the hard currency of the multi-track
In the past few years, the tides of the country have retrograded and the old days have swept through the world, and the demand for the old bells has already jumped out of the collection circle and became a fresh demand for the whole scene。
(b) the internet red room, the new chinese teahouse, the nostalgic theme restaurant, the times theatre used the old clock as a core decorator, with an old bell with a wooden shell hanging over the wall, accompanied by an old porcelain tank, an old wooden box, and a sense of the age, which is much better than thousands of pieces of net red
There are also a number of clock lovers, mechanical burners, specializing in the use and repair of old clocks, saying that the sound of old machine clocks is not comparable to the sound of modern electronic clocks; more folk fairs, nostalgia museums, old clocks that are always well-received, time-stamped, market demand surges and prices naturally go up。
Third, the collective love of generations is hidden in old times that never return
The old clock was never just a tool to look at time, but it contained the collective memory of generations。
It is a timescale for the family to listen to the bells, to sleep, to go to school; the most honourable and enviable weddings of the year of marriage; the childhood memories of our childhood when we were young, sneaking the bells and listening to the sound of the whole thing; and the fathers, saving money to buy it back, a family's honour and honour。
Many people now hang their clocks not for the sake of time, but for the sake of finding their parents' youth, a time when the lack of material was particularly warm, and when the need spread from the small tibetans to all the loving ordinary people。
Check yourself. These three types of old clocks are worth most. Your family probably has one
A lot of people have gone over their old clocks, and i don't know if they're worth a collection. I've divided three ladders directly by market recognition and preservation, and i can check them directly against brands, models, years。
First platoon: rare and lonely, valuable ceiling collection
This type of clock is a hard currency for the collection ring and a regular customer in the auction market, where the price of a single channel is almost ten thousand dollars or more, and where it can be sold to 50,000, 100,000 or even higher in a scarce version of good quality。
- representation: imported antique clocks/string clocks in the 1950s-60s (deutsung, kennings, early payment at the japanese quest house), memorial bells recorded during the quaker period, military watch, prototype machines for major brands, limited amount of export earnings, custom seats for redwood/violet shells bell
- real market performance: 3 or 5 military stand-up bells in 1966, full of originals, with points available for normal walk, at a stable market price of 20-60000 yuan; german antique bells imported during the period of the perfect nation, with a sale price of more than 200,000 won and scarce money sold even higher。
- core characteristics: the circulation of this type of clock in the current year is very low, mostly in the form of targeted supplies, exclusive exports, and private retained pockets. After decades of sedimentation, it has been preserved in its entirety, it has been used in a few ways, it has not been available for the collection, and prices have only risen。
Second platoon: the national classics, the strongest liquidity
This type of clock is the dominant circulation in the collection and is the most readily available in ordinary people's homes. It is a “triple-turned” piece of money that the family had to buy. Households are proud of owning one, and prices are now steadily rising and cashing is particularly easy。
- representation: classic mechanical hang-up clocks for the top five national brands produced in the 1950s and 1980s, shanghai, north stars, hustacks, golden chickens, seats with a core of 35 cards and 15 days, north stars, shanghai landings, etc
- real market performance: in 1958, three or five cards and 15 days were sold at an official sale price of $32. The market price is now fixed at $3,000-12,000 when the originals, parts and parts are available to walk normally. During the same period, the north star and shanghai classics were sold in good quality, and the market price was more than 200-8,000 yuan, more than 100 times higher。
- core characteristics: there was a large retention of such clocks in the year, but there are not many complete machines that remain, are well-dressed, are fully equipped, are not overhauled and can walk normally. Even in the case of original machines with slight traces of use, there are fixed collections, residential houses and company acquisitions, which are certainly not worthless scrap metal。
Team 3: the local classics, stop being trash
Such clocks, though less expensive than the two previous categories, are well above the price of scrap metal, and many people have homes where they do not know how to sell, and 350 dollars are treated as scrap and lost in vain。
- representation: old machine clocks, seat clocks, local brands such as the seagulls of tianjin, the sheep of guangzhou, the butterflies of xi'an, the gold cup of shenyang, the cambas of shandong, etc
- the real market: when the local brands, which were sold for dozens of dollars, are now in good shape, fully equipped and able to walk normally, the market price is generally in the range of $500-2000, which, even if slightly worn, is dozens of times higher than the price of scrap metal。
- core characteristics: the circulation is not small, but there are few left over, so stop selling at the junkyards and go to the local popular collection market, the nostalgia platform, and probably make hundreds or thousands more。
Attention, these clocks are worth a lot of money. Don't waste your time
A lot of people feel that it's worth something as long as it's an old clock. The following kinds of alarm clocks, even if you put them on for decades, don't even have a collection premium, they'll even have to be treated for scrap。
1. Large replacement, non-original overhaul clocks for spare parts
The collection value of the old clock is centred on the original. If the core parts of a clock, the core cores of the clock, the clock, the pointer, the shell, are mostly replaced by later, non-existent parts, and even when it moves normally, it has little collection value and can only be processed as ordinary old clocks。
2. All-refurbishment, repainting and hull-changing clocks
Many people feel that the clock is old, paints out, the shell is fractured, they spray it again, they change it, they grind it out, they think it's worth more, and the opposite. A fully refurbished, re-colored, shelled clock would simply lose the value of the collection, at a price of more than 10 times lower than the original one, and the collection ring would be largely uncollected。
3. Electronic hangers, croquettes produced in late stages english bell
The mills that were produced after the 1990s had no scarcity, no collection value of the time, and even if they had been put on hold, they would have become increasingly depreciated and there was no room for the collection to appreciate。
4. Disabled aircraft with severe damage to the main object, damage to the core, unserviceable
If a hangup shell is severely fractured, its core burned, parts are missing, parts cannot go normally, even the classic 35-50 north star, there is little value in collection, and repair costs are far greater than the value of the machine itself and the scrap metal can only be dismantled。
Don't step on these three pits
A lot of people turned over their old clocks, but they didn't know how to do it right. It was easy to step on them and lose money. I sorted out three of the most common fault areas, whether they sell or stay, and i had to avoid them。
1. Blindly demanufacturing machines to make whole machines useless
It's the most man-to-man pit. When the old clock was turned out, it was found that it was time to break the machine, change the parts, change the core, and even fix the watch shop on the side of the road. However, any unnecessary dismantling or replacement of the collection, which is most focused on the original size, would cause the machine to fall sharply in its collection value。
The right approach: when the old clock is turned off, even if it is not left for the time being, do not take down the machine, change it, and wipe the surface dust with a dry cloth. Even if it is to be repaired, it is necessary to find a professional teacher who understands the old clock collection, to keep the original parts as they are, and to keep the machine as it is, the most valuable。
2. Low price for light letter-recycling, missed by cabbage
The scrapman who comes in and recycles old household electricity, most of your old hang-up clock, says, "no one wants it, 30 bucks at most," and the well-dressed original machine, which could be worth thousands of dollars, is being picked up directly by dozens of dollars。
The correct approach: before you realize it, ask the local popular collection market, a second-hand nostalgic platform, and compare the offers of two to three families, not to write the words that come to the door, let alone hand the machine over to the other party for a separate decipher, so that the original parts are not replaced。
The whole machine was sold in pieces, and lost half the money
Many do not know that the price of a full original hanger is several times higher than the price of a broken piece. For example, a full-made three-and-a-half-card hang-up is sold for $5,000, split into cores, casings and bell-shows, all of which add up to $1,000, a direct loss of more than 4,000。
The correct approach is that the original machine in hand should not simply open up and sell parts, even if one or two parts are slightly damaged, and do so as quickly as possible, at a much higher price than is available in bulk, without losing much for the small sums in hand。
And finally
In fact, half of the value of old clocks is non-renewable scarcity, half is the time and memories hidden inside。
The sound of a ticking, tick-tocking walk is the clearest mark of time in our childhood and the most precious collective memory of a time of great sincerity and joy in a time of scarcity。
Instead of buying the red ones you've made, go home and turn over the old house, the storage room, the corner of the loft, and maybe it's hidden in the old clock that the whole family was saving for. It's not only hidden your youth, it's probably a surprise。
What is your old clock? Do you remember when you grew up listening to the bell? The comment area can call, tell your story, and i'll show you the market situation
