Advice on Holtzapffel tools

[DanQuine]

I was hoping to get some advice from the experts on this forum. My grandfather recently passed away and he was a keen woodworker earlier in his life. He left us a cabinet full of Holtzapffel wood turning tools. I know very little about these tools, but I get the sense that they are relatively sought after. There are about 160 tools in the cabinet - a wide variety of chisels, scrapers and other tools. Many are marked Holtzapffel & Co. on the blade. Most are in good condition, though need cleaning. A few need some more work - mainly handles that have come off.

The family is looking to sell the tools; any advice on where would be an appropriate place to sell them? Would you take them to an auction house, if so any recommendations? Would you consider getting them restored before sale, or sell them as is?

Many thanks for your help,

Dan

 

[adidat]

Hi there.

Sorry for your loss I lost my grandfather in april and we had to clear out a very impressive collection of metal working equipment. But what you havd got there is very special so please be careful as a dealer would love to snatch them up.

If you look at this link below you will see that a very similar set sold at a David Stanley auction some time back. They may be interested in selling them for you as they have a great following with big collector's globally.

anybody-here-need-any-old-tools-t59627.html

I cannot remember what they sold for but it was quite a lot.

Hope this helps

Adidat

 

[shaver01]

I second the last poster. If genuine, these tools could be worth a lot to a collector. Especially if the cabinet is also the genuine article.

If advertised, you may find you get numerous calls for individual tools as a lot of these collections are missing the odd tool. My advice for what it's worth is contact one of the bigger auction houses who deal in this sort of item. You could well be in for a very surprising ending. Good luck!

Have a look here! Lot 995.

 

[chipmunk]

Hi Dan,
Very sorry to hear about your Grandfather.

On the subject of whether to restore them or not, I would recommend leaving them precisely as they are.
HTH
Jon

 

[DanQuine]

Many thanks for the helpful advice received so far, it's extremely helpful. On the question of whether these are genuine or not - I have no idea what to look for. As I mentioned, many of the blades have a Holtzapffel stamp on them.

Beyond that, is there anything I should look for? I suspect my grandfather owned these for between 40 and 70 years, but we don't know their history before that.

Thanks again, especially for the kind condolences, which I greatly appreciate,

Dan

 

[adidat]

Im not saying forgeries don't exsist but I highly doubt it considering you have the full set. As I have said before get in touch with david stanley. As these are pretty special! The question that's on eveyones lips is did he have a lathe to match?


Adidat

 

[DanQuine]

Adidat,

Thanks for the reassurance. As for a lathe, yes he had one, but not a Holtzapffel I'm afraid. His lathe is a more mundane (but still very nice) Myford ML7. I'm keeping that and restoring it to working order as I want to use it for primarily metalworking.

Dan

 

[Inspector]

Get ahold of John Edwards. He is an ornamental turner and is very knowledgeable. He will be of assistance in evaluating and advising you of how best to proceed.

http://www.ornamentalturning.co.uk/index.htm

Pete

 

[procell]

Sorry for your loss. As Others have said these could be very valuable to collectors. I would suggest rather than speak to someone about selling them for you I would get an independent assessor to value them first (make sure they know you will not be selling through them then you will get an honest appraisal) so you have a good idea if the seller is giving you a fair deal. Alternatively I would dust them down and polish the case then mount it on my wall as a decorative and interesting piece of art. would certainly be a talking point.

 

[AndyT]

I'd just like to second the good advice so far. Talk to David Stanley's in person - they will be very interested and do have the attention of serious (wealthy) collectors. Don't attempt to clean them at all.

And seriously consider whether you really want the cash more than the tools - you won't inherit a set like that again!

 

[DanQuine]

Once again, can I thank everyone who offered their advice on this thread. It was extremely useful. in the end we decided to sell the tools with David Stanley. They are in the auction on the 29th. of this month:

http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/aucti ... hitem=true

Dan