I do not know if this appropriate, so please delete if I am in error. Just thought there may be a big player who may have an interest.
To whom it may concern,
There is a gentleman in Los Angeles, California who inherited a warehouse full of nos/nib vacuum tubes, who's name is Mr. Art Lane. These tubes were collected by his father (who was a professional musician and has passed on). He wishes to sell these tubes in whole lots or the whole warehouse. His reason for selling is a lack of interests in vacuum tubes and the rental cost of the warehouse he is using to store the tubes. Many are 1940's and 1950's, nos in crate boxes, none older than 1970's? There are no television tubes, just audio and armature radio tubes. He is asking between $40,000.00 to $50,000.00? for the whole lot. He claims to have 300b western electrics, telefunken, seimens, mullards, eimac power transmit tubes, and American made (rca, zeneith, etc.). Mr Lane is a movie producer and has a very busy schedule, but is anxious to sell. He does know the value and his estimate of the collection of 850,000? tubes is close to $1,000,000.00? or so. If there is a representative for a large audio manufacture of vacuum tube gear that may want to visit the warehouse, please give him a call and setup an appointment to meet with Mr. Lane to see what he has. Bring a vacuum tube tester? to sample some tubes. He wants to sell it all at one time I believe.
Mr. Art Lanes phone number is, (818) 679-1955.
Very Respectfully,
Tubehound
To whom it may concern,
There is a gentleman in Los Angeles, California who inherited a warehouse full of nos/nib vacuum tubes, who's name is Mr. Art Lane. These tubes were collected by his father (who was a professional musician and has passed on). He wishes to sell these tubes in whole lots or the whole warehouse. His reason for selling is a lack of interests in vacuum tubes and the rental cost of the warehouse he is using to store the tubes. Many are 1940's and 1950's, nos in crate boxes, none older than 1970's? There are no television tubes, just audio and armature radio tubes. He is asking between $40,000.00 to $50,000.00? for the whole lot. He claims to have 300b western electrics, telefunken, seimens, mullards, eimac power transmit tubes, and American made (rca, zeneith, etc.). Mr Lane is a movie producer and has a very busy schedule, but is anxious to sell. He does know the value and his estimate of the collection of 850,000? tubes is close to $1,000,000.00? or so. If there is a representative for a large audio manufacture of vacuum tube gear that may want to visit the warehouse, please give him a call and setup an appointment to meet with Mr. Lane to see what he has. Bring a vacuum tube tester? to sample some tubes. He wants to sell it all at one time I believe.
Mr. Art Lanes phone number is, (818) 679-1955.
Very Respectfully,
Tubehound
Attachments
After buying ~25000 tubes from said gentleman, I believe a 'buyer beware' warning is in order.
Orignally, this gentleman listed 36000 tubes on eBay with a $30000 starting bid, $50000 buy-it-now price. I was the only bidder. After the auction was complete, no less than 3 different people contacted me that i was the winner of their auction. It was later claimed that there was a middle-mamn who listed the tubes who got greedy and was cut out. The eBay transaction was cancelled, and a deal was made directly, which included splitting the lot into 3 equal parts of ~10k tubes for less risk. The aforementioned gentleman then forwarded pictures of the lot including the ones on eBay as proof he indeed had the tubes. Within those pictures, tehre were several very popular tubes, in fact a half-crate full of metal base 6SN7 was easily seen along with Ei ECC83 and many more. Also, very evident (and in the pictures above if one enlarges them sufficiently) are many types of TV tubes, so the claim tere are no TV tubes is pretty much hogwash. This was just the start of problems, when the frst 12k lot turned up there was not a SINGLE one of any popular tube in it, never mind the ones clearly evident in the lot pictures. This gentleman claimed he did not want to send the good ones first in case there were problems with loss and breakage. After that, a LONG list of tubes classified in 4 categories (unusable, use if nothing else available, useful, popular) was drawn and it was left to this gentleman to make up a list of tubes to be sent in the next lot. He sent back the proposed list, which included about 1500 interesting (and out of that a smaller number of popular tubes such as 20 6SN7s, 40 807s, and other not so popular but useful tubs including many TV types) tubes that made it a good deal. To make a long story short, when the lot got in, out of 1500 tubes most were not there, about 500 were not tubes (they were solid state replacements for popular rectifier tubes) and about 300 tubes that could have saved the lot in terms of value, had no bases. Nearly 2000 tubs turned out to be used and most of those were worn out enough to be useless. Tubes that came instead were TV types, and he also did send an old Hickok AC510X tester in good cosmetic shape. Interestingly, two Sovtek 6922 tubes arrived in the mix (brand new) which pretty much throws the claim that there are no newer tubes than 1970 out of the window. When the full tally is done, the grand majority of the tubes that arrived are types you regularly see listed for $1 a tube at several vendor sites.
Simply put: This gentleman was politely told to straighten his act, and had every option and opportunity to do so, including a choice what he was going to send, and even at what asking price. Yet, he did not send what he promised, and provided ample grounds for doubt of every claim he made (and also complained a lot when his act was busted, even though all the risk was entirely on my side, nothing was sent before it was fully paid). In the end he offered the whole lot of over 300000 tubes for a seemingly excellent (but still 6-figure price when all costs are combined) price, but I am sure everyone would agree that for that kind of money, there should not be even a trace of a doubt - and in fact, it was exactly the opposite. After this, i decided to cut my losses and stop any dealings with this person.
So, for any prospective buyers: you can buy $1 tubes for ~$1/tube from at least a half dozen suppliers. knowing in advance exactly what you were going to get. In fact, for the quantity in question, you could get a better price too. Strictly speaking, money has not been lost, all the tubes are going to be used sooner or later, but what you will be getting will most likely not be what you are being promised.
Orignally, this gentleman listed 36000 tubes on eBay with a $30000 starting bid, $50000 buy-it-now price. I was the only bidder. After the auction was complete, no less than 3 different people contacted me that i was the winner of their auction. It was later claimed that there was a middle-mamn who listed the tubes who got greedy and was cut out. The eBay transaction was cancelled, and a deal was made directly, which included splitting the lot into 3 equal parts of ~10k tubes for less risk. The aforementioned gentleman then forwarded pictures of the lot including the ones on eBay as proof he indeed had the tubes. Within those pictures, tehre were several very popular tubes, in fact a half-crate full of metal base 6SN7 was easily seen along with Ei ECC83 and many more. Also, very evident (and in the pictures above if one enlarges them sufficiently) are many types of TV tubes, so the claim tere are no TV tubes is pretty much hogwash. This was just the start of problems, when the frst 12k lot turned up there was not a SINGLE one of any popular tube in it, never mind the ones clearly evident in the lot pictures. This gentleman claimed he did not want to send the good ones first in case there were problems with loss and breakage. After that, a LONG list of tubes classified in 4 categories (unusable, use if nothing else available, useful, popular) was drawn and it was left to this gentleman to make up a list of tubes to be sent in the next lot. He sent back the proposed list, which included about 1500 interesting (and out of that a smaller number of popular tubes such as 20 6SN7s, 40 807s, and other not so popular but useful tubs including many TV types) tubes that made it a good deal. To make a long story short, when the lot got in, out of 1500 tubes most were not there, about 500 were not tubes (they were solid state replacements for popular rectifier tubes) and about 300 tubes that could have saved the lot in terms of value, had no bases. Nearly 2000 tubs turned out to be used and most of those were worn out enough to be useless. Tubes that came instead were TV types, and he also did send an old Hickok AC510X tester in good cosmetic shape. Interestingly, two Sovtek 6922 tubes arrived in the mix (brand new) which pretty much throws the claim that there are no newer tubes than 1970 out of the window. When the full tally is done, the grand majority of the tubes that arrived are types you regularly see listed for $1 a tube at several vendor sites.
Simply put: This gentleman was politely told to straighten his act, and had every option and opportunity to do so, including a choice what he was going to send, and even at what asking price. Yet, he did not send what he promised, and provided ample grounds for doubt of every claim he made (and also complained a lot when his act was busted, even though all the risk was entirely on my side, nothing was sent before it was fully paid). In the end he offered the whole lot of over 300000 tubes for a seemingly excellent (but still 6-figure price when all costs are combined) price, but I am sure everyone would agree that for that kind of money, there should not be even a trace of a doubt - and in fact, it was exactly the opposite. After this, i decided to cut my losses and stop any dealings with this person.
So, for any prospective buyers: you can buy $1 tubes for ~$1/tube from at least a half dozen suppliers. knowing in advance exactly what you were going to get. In fact, for the quantity in question, you could get a better price too. Strictly speaking, money has not been lost, all the tubes are going to be used sooner or later, but what you will be getting will most likely not be what you are being promised.
Last edited:
FRAUD ALERT! FRAUD ALERT!
Stay away from this one. He tells fantbulous stories, none of which are true. I'm in Burbank and got a call from a guy named Ed. (Art Lane I presume, if THAT's even his real name) He saw my sign out front that I do amp repair. I went over to his storage space and saw his inventory first hand this morning.
Beware: NOT all audio tubes as he claims on the phone. In fact, a majority radio and TV, as you would expect in a large cache of tubes. I would say maybe 10% audio, and lots of pulls, loose and dusty in plastic bins. NO 300B's, used 2A3's, and boxes of NON popular tubes with no bases. Cheapo Hickock tube testers.
He has done his homework and knows the key words that excite audio guys. The only brand name tube he produced was a Telefunken 12AX, and an EL84, both were pulls. He claims to have boxes and boxes of this stuff, but sight unseen, he wants you to pay $50,000. He even tried pressuring me, saying that a guy was coming to buy it all tomorrow, and that guy was going to be a millionaire! (on the phone he said 5 mil, then 10 mil.) (why sell it for $50K then?) A classic fraud warning sign. I offered to buy any audio that didn't fit in the truck. He claimed the guy was bringing a semi, then two, then four. He claimed to have 4 - 10'X5' lockers, then 8, then the whole row.
He REALLY got miffed at me for walking up his row of boxes and discovering the huge presence of radio tubes. He kept saying "the audio tubes are down here", and "I see you don't know tubes", then called me "small time". The 3'X3' space of used pulls. Including one case (100) new 12AU, and another new 12AX as a teaser. He also claimed his dad wasn't in the business, but an audiophile, to someone else a musician, I think maybe amatuer ham operator.
He has tried to sell these on E-Bay, and I think he'll be back. Me being a repairman, I have a running theory, observed by my experience. If you want to sell something trashy, put it out on E-Bay and dump it far from where you live. I see that in this shop couple times a month. Usually gear that cost more to fix than what it's worth, but the seller already knew that.
Somebody may find these tubes have value, but not 50K. And then, if purchased I would insist on viewing the contents of every box personally.
The word is out, so spread it far and wide.
Stay away from this one. He tells fantbulous stories, none of which are true. I'm in Burbank and got a call from a guy named Ed. (Art Lane I presume, if THAT's even his real name) He saw my sign out front that I do amp repair. I went over to his storage space and saw his inventory first hand this morning.
Beware: NOT all audio tubes as he claims on the phone. In fact, a majority radio and TV, as you would expect in a large cache of tubes. I would say maybe 10% audio, and lots of pulls, loose and dusty in plastic bins. NO 300B's, used 2A3's, and boxes of NON popular tubes with no bases. Cheapo Hickock tube testers.
He has done his homework and knows the key words that excite audio guys. The only brand name tube he produced was a Telefunken 12AX, and an EL84, both were pulls. He claims to have boxes and boxes of this stuff, but sight unseen, he wants you to pay $50,000. He even tried pressuring me, saying that a guy was coming to buy it all tomorrow, and that guy was going to be a millionaire! (on the phone he said 5 mil, then 10 mil.) (why sell it for $50K then?) A classic fraud warning sign. I offered to buy any audio that didn't fit in the truck. He claimed the guy was bringing a semi, then two, then four. He claimed to have 4 - 10'X5' lockers, then 8, then the whole row.
He REALLY got miffed at me for walking up his row of boxes and discovering the huge presence of radio tubes. He kept saying "the audio tubes are down here", and "I see you don't know tubes", then called me "small time". The 3'X3' space of used pulls. Including one case (100) new 12AU, and another new 12AX as a teaser. He also claimed his dad wasn't in the business, but an audiophile, to someone else a musician, I think maybe amatuer ham operator.
He has tried to sell these on E-Bay, and I think he'll be back. Me being a repairman, I have a running theory, observed by my experience. If you want to sell something trashy, put it out on E-Bay and dump it far from where you live. I see that in this shop couple times a month. Usually gear that cost more to fix than what it's worth, but the seller already knew that.
Somebody may find these tubes have value, but not 50K. And then, if purchased I would insist on viewing the contents of every box personally.
The word is out, so spread it far and wide.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.