Ok, we were cleaning out a basement of a house and was told to "toss it all out".
Well, the guy must have been a repair man.
There was boxes of old tubes and antique testing equipment.
Here is a picture of the tubes consolidated into one location.
I have no idea what is good or bad, but would think the ones in the individual boxes and wrapped in paper towel would still be good.
I was thinking of selling them on ebay but there is the lack of testing issue for the tubes.
Any suggestions on what to do with the tubes and testing equipment?
Well, the guy must have been a repair man.
There was boxes of old tubes and antique testing equipment.
Here is a picture of the tubes consolidated into one location.
I have no idea what is good or bad, but would think the ones in the individual boxes and wrapped in paper towel would still be good.
I was thinking of selling them on ebay but there is the lack of testing issue for the tubes.
Any suggestions on what to do with the tubes and testing equipment?
Attachments
They may be ALL good, otherwise why were they kept? But only about 10% of tube numbers will have ANY demand, and most of THOSE aren't worth much. But depending on what this guy worked on, thee could be a higher percentage that are of some value. Look up the numbers at findatube.com - anything listed at $5 or more is of interest to SOMEONE... if many are more than $5, it may be worth getting them tested for best return. Nobody will buy a box of unknown tubes (unless it's REALLY cheap). A list of numbers would get the right people interested... whether it's audio tubes, guitar amp tubes, radio tubes, ham tubes (very little demand for TV tubes...). The old test equipment may be of interest to old radio collectors (like me...).
Looks like a lot of them are TV receiver tubes, so not worth very much. The octal tubes (the ones with eight larger pins and a bakelite ring on the bottom) are probably worth the most. You can sell them as untested on eBay or buy a tube tester, test them and then resell the tester.
Send the rest to SY, but have him pay for the overnight shipping charges. (Of course send them ground.)
Send the rest to SY, but have him pay for the overnight shipping charges. (Of course send them ground.)
They may not be as valuable as you might hope. A few types will be popular and worth the price to ship them to a buyer. Many of them will not be. Today the only tube users are audio. Mostly guitar amps and some HiFi stereo. But back in the day there were TV repair men and I suspect mostly what you have are old tubes from TV sets. Musicians and audiophiles will not want these. But hobbyists might buy them if the price is right, like a buck a tube.
On the other hand you might have one or two sought after types that sell for $200 each.
Your first step is to make a list. Include the type, brand and if it is still in a factory sealed box or if it is used. Post the list here and you will get plenty of comments
OK so maybe you want to build something. Maybe a stereo amp. What you will find is the transformers cost far more than the tubes. Using free tubes only saves you about 25% of the total cost.
What antique test equipment do you have? I prefer to buy brand new tubes but I happen to like to vintage test equipment.
From what I can see in the box full of loose tubes there a lot of old TV type tubes. Virtually no one restores old TV sets so the tubes that were used in TV's that never found another purpose are rather worthless. They go for $1 to $5 each if they are new in the box.
In the 70's and 80's people figured out how to make CB and ham radio amplifiers out of some TV tubes. These amplifiers ate tubes for lunch depleting the supply of some type numbers. These tubes can fetch from $10 to $50 each, even unboxed if they can be verified as good.
More recently a few of us have figured out how to make some rather nice audio amplifiers out of some TV tubes, so there are probably some useful tubes there. A list of numbers and quantities of each is the first priority. The fat tubes with a metal plate cap on the top are the most likely ones to fit in these two categories. Tubes of similar size without the metal cap would be the second batch to list. Save the smaller ones for last, but some may be useful, most will not be.
Note: A tube tester can weed out the really dead tubes. It will not find the tubes that just can't handle a high load since the tube tester doesn't apply a large stress to the tube under test. This is particularly important with the power tubes used in amplifiers both radio and audio.
In the 70's and 80's people figured out how to make CB and ham radio amplifiers out of some TV tubes. These amplifiers ate tubes for lunch depleting the supply of some type numbers. These tubes can fetch from $10 to $50 each, even unboxed if they can be verified as good.
More recently a few of us have figured out how to make some rather nice audio amplifiers out of some TV tubes, so there are probably some useful tubes there. A list of numbers and quantities of each is the first priority. The fat tubes with a metal plate cap on the top are the most likely ones to fit in these two categories. Tubes of similar size without the metal cap would be the second batch to list. Save the smaller ones for last, but some may be useful, most will not be.
Note: A tube tester can weed out the really dead tubes. It will not find the tubes that just can't handle a high load since the tube tester doesn't apply a large stress to the tube under test. This is particularly important with the power tubes used in amplifiers both radio and audio.
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