Handcuff prices are exploding before our eyes...

Hello again collectors,

It's no suprise over the last 6-12 months the price of vintage handcuffs have increased very rapidly on Ebay. Just check out the new link Joseph added to the site, Recent Auctions, and that says it all. They have nearly doubled or even quadrupled in price from a year ago. Cuffs that are vintage, and mfg by Cobb, Tower, H&R, Bean, Harvard, and even Peerless(occationally) are raising like the gas prices. I think this topic has been brought up here before, but was unable to catch it in the forum. I've also made the observation that when I've checked Ebay for another vintage cuff to add to The Collection, one of 2 results occur; a handful of good one's will show up in my "results" query, but have exceeded the $100.00, or $200.00 mark(sometimes more depending on what's being listed). Or there are pages and pages of Taiwan cuffs with an occasional "estate sale" pitted or rusted-out piece that either doesn't get a single bid, or goes to a desperate buyer. Is it safe to say that handcuff collecting is becoming more common like collecting vintage badges, Spurs, Call Boxes, and other police items from yesteryear? I recently had an antique dealer tell me they had to drive through 3 states from their mid-west state to get ahold of a pair of Coveney Bottlenecks. His response to my disbelief was he had to do it because all the sources for vintage police items are "all dried up". Another antique dealer that just sold the recent pair of Pratt Combination cuffs for $700, and some change on Ebay found those in a pile of beauty supply items...talk about finding a diamond in the rough!!! I guess the moral of the story is because our pool of handcuff collectors is growing(which would make sense why availability, or lack thereof} has displayed a teaching in supply and demand, hang on to those old cuffs as they're value seem to be exploding before our eyes. It's got to be because of Mark's(great) article on Ebay, thanks alot Mark, just kidding. Great info for sure that sparks interest to all! Maybe I'll hit the garage sales this weekend for some beauty supply items!

Kris

Hello,

Few restraints collectors seem to realise how relatively inexpensive their hobby is.

Of the many categories of collecting -- fine arts, decorative arts, jewellery, vertu, furniture, coins, stamps, furniture, porcelain, sports and entertainment, clocks, industrial arts and crafts, scientific instruments, books, vintage automobiles, arms and armour, and other categories in a very long list -- the best and rarest handcuffs or other restraints command paltry sums.

It remains fairly easy for anyone willing to acquire rudimentary knowledge and exercise prudence to assemble a respectable restraints collection on a modest, limited budget.

Recently, $2,800 was spent on eBay for an early, important pair of Griffin & Nichols darby handcuffs, and $3,250 was spent on eBay for a pair of Romer leg irons that probably once belonged to Houdini. As far as I know, no other eBay restraints auction topped $1,000.

In most other fields of collecting, these are bargain basement prices for items of comparable quality and importance. Indeed, middle of the road pieces often if not typically begin at prices higher than the two cited above.

Serious collectors of meagre means may acquire one or two pieces a year, or even a single item every few years, satisfying their interests with books, museum visits and window shopping. In the world of collecting objects, consider yourself exceptionally fortunate if the objects you collect are restraints.

Consider also that eBay hardly is the only market.

Cheers,

Jack
http://www.editing.org.uk/tanis/collectibles.htm

Hello again collectors,

It's no suprise over the last 6-12 months the price of vintage handcuffs have increased very rapidly on Ebay. Just check out the new link Joseph added to the site, Recent Auctions, and that says it all. They have nearly doubled or even quadrupled in price from a year ago. Cuffs that are vintage, and mfg by Cobb, Tower, H&R, Bean, Harvard, and even Peerless(occationally) are raising like the gas prices. I think this topic has been brought up here before, but was unable to catch it in the forum. I've also made the observation that when I've checked Ebay for another vintage cuff to add to The Collection, one of 2 results occur; a handful of good one's will show up in my "results" query, but have exceeded the $100.00, or $200.00 mark(sometimes more depending on what's being listed). Or there are pages and pages of Taiwan cuffs with an occasional "estate sale" pitted or rusted-out piece that either doesn't get a single bid, or goes to a desperate buyer. Is it safe to say that handcuff collecting is becoming more common like collecting vintage badges, Spurs, Call Boxes, and other police items from yesteryear? I recently had an antique dealer tell me they had to drive through 3 states from their mid-west state to get ahold of a pair of Coveney Bottlenecks. His response to my disbelief was he had to do it because all the sources for vintage police items are "all dried up". Another antique dealer that just sold the recent pair of Pratt Combination cuffs for $700, and some change on Ebay found those in a pile of beauty supply items...talk about finding a diamond in the rough!!! I guess the moral of the story is because our pool of handcuff collectors is growing(which would make sense why availability, or lack thereof} has displayed a teaching in supply and demand, hang on to those old cuffs as they're value seem to be exploding before our eyes. It's got to be because of Mark's(great) article on Ebay, thanks alot Mark, just kidding. Great info for sure that sparks interest to all! Maybe I'll hit the garage sales this weekend for some beauty supply items!

Kris

Click to expand...

Yes, I must agree with Jack. Most handcuffs are still very
reasonably priced. Only the rarest go for the big bucks, or
items which fit into a particular focus of a certain few collectors. As a matter of fact, many of the prices have even
declined since years ago before ebay. Several examples are the
$ sign cuff, magnetic cuff, and even the Woods Chain cuff, all
once priced beteen 700-1000 dollars. Now, they all sell for less. Same with many items such as Cummings, non-typical
double lock Towers, etc... I sold a cardboard dollhouse on ebay for $1200! Handcuff are relatively inexpensive compared to other hobbies, again, with the exception of the excellent condition items, and rare items. All in all, were lucky to be
in a fascinating hobby that one can accumulate a small but nice collection for reasonable money.

Hello again collectors,

It's no suprise over the last 6-12 months the price of vintage handcuffs have increased very rapidly on Ebay. Just check out the new link Joseph added to the site, Recent Auctions, and that says it all. They have nearly doubled or even quadrupled in price from a year ago. Cuffs that are vintage, and mfg by Cobb, Tower, H&R, Bean, Harvard, and even Peerless(occationally) are raising like the gas prices. I think this topic has been brought up here before, but was unable to catch it in the forum. I've also made the observation that when I've checked Ebay for another vintage cuff to add to The Collection, one of 2 results occur; a handful of good one's will show up in my "results" query, but have exceeded the $100.00, or $200.00 mark(sometimes more depending on what's being listed). Or there are pages and pages of Taiwan cuffs with an occasional "estate sale" pitted or rusted-out piece that either doesn't get a single bid, or goes to a desperate buyer. Is it safe to say that handcuff collecting is becoming more common like collecting vintage badges, Spurs, Call Boxes, and other police items from yesteryear? I recently had an antique dealer tell me they had to drive through 3 states from their mid-west state to get ahold of a pair of Coveney Bottlenecks. His response to my disbelief was he had to do it because all the sources for vintage police items are "all dried up". Another antique dealer that just sold the recent pair of Pratt Combination cuffs for $700, and some change on Ebay found those in a pile of beauty supply items...talk about finding a diamond in the rough!!! I guess the moral of the story is because our pool of handcuff collectors is growing(which would make sense why availability, or lack thereof} has displayed a teaching in supply and demand, hang on to those old cuffs as they're value seem to be exploding before our eyes. It's got to be because of Mark's(great) article on Ebay, thanks alot Mark, just kidding. Great info for sure that sparks interest to all! Maybe I'll hit the garage sales this weekend for some beauty supply items!

Kris

Click to expand...

Dear John,

"I sold a cardboard dollhouse on ebay for $1200!" Persons, at least the persons who frequent the Forum, seem unaware this happens all the time.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1959-VINTAGE-AUTHEN ... dZViewItem -- 1959 VINTAGE AUTHENTIC #1 PONYTAIL BLONDE BARBIE DOLL -- Item 320132512650 -- $3,000.00.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1954-Fender-Esquire ... dZViewItem -- 1954 Fender Esquire Guitar & Tweed Amplifier -- Item 170127021755 -- $23,000.00. (The Esquire essentially was a Telecaster with only one, the bridge, pickup.)

So much for the runaway prices of our little collecting niche.

Cheers,

Jack
http://www.editing.org.uk/tanis/collectibles.htm

Hello again collectors,

It's no suprise over the last 6-12 months the price of vintage handcuffs have increased very rapidly on Ebay. Just check out the new link Joseph added to the site, Recent Auctions, and that says it all. They have nearly doubled or even quadrupled in price from a year ago. Cuffs that are vintage, and mfg by Cobb, Tower, H&R, Bean, Harvard, and even Peerless(occationally) are raising like the gas prices. I think this topic has been brought up here before, but was unable to catch it in the forum. I've also made the observation that when I've checked Ebay for another vintage cuff to add to The Collection, one of 2 results occur; a handful of good one's will show up in my "results" query, but have exceeded the $100.00, or $200.00 mark(sometimes more depending on what's being listed). Or there are pages and pages of Taiwan cuffs with an occasional "estate sale" pitted or rusted-out piece that either doesn't get a single bid, or goes to a desperate buyer. Is it safe to say that handcuff collecting is becoming more common like collecting vintage badges, Spurs, Call Boxes, and other police items from yesteryear? I recently had an antique dealer tell me they had to drive through 3 states from their mid-west state to get ahold of a pair of Coveney Bottlenecks. His response to my disbelief was he had to do it because all the sources for vintage police items are "all dried up". Another antique dealer that just sold the recent pair of Pratt Combination cuffs for $700, and some change on Ebay found those in a pile of beauty supply items...talk about finding a diamond in the rough!!! I guess the moral of the story is because our pool of handcuff collectors is growing(which would make sense why availability, or lack thereof} has displayed a teaching in supply and demand, hang on to those old cuffs as they're value seem to be exploding before our eyes. It's got to be because of Mark's(great) article on Ebay, thanks alot Mark, just kidding. Great info for sure that sparks interest to all! Maybe I'll hit the garage sales this weekend for some beauty supply items!

Kris

Click to expand...

buying on Ebay is not to Bad. just set a price limit and keep it to that price. i bid on a Pair of S&W's 94's 1st version got them for less then $100.00 the guy just shipped them July 2nd and I picked them up from the P.O. on July 5th go figure. D,