Thursday, October 26, 2006

Actual chamber pot

From: lace0024@charter.net

My name is Lace. I need to find out how much the actual chamber pot is worth. My grandmother is trying to sell it through me on ebay and I would like to know a reserve price.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

What do you mean by "actual"? The brass chamber pots often auctioned on eBay are modern novelty items (fakes) that really have nothing to do with the CPRR.

If you want to determine value, you can easily use eBay's completed auction search to find comparable sales. Your chamber pot is "worth" exactly what someone is willing to pay for it. With eBay, there is no requirement for you to guess the price, as the bidders will decide. Reserve prices can be counterproductive, as some bidders will conclude that the presence of a hidden reserve indicates that the item is likely to be overpriced and a waste of time to bid on. To the extent that this happens, the final price could be lowered.

10/26/2006 12:15 PM  
Blogger CPRR Discussion Group said...

From: lace0024@charter.net

What I mean when I say actual is that it says on the side NOTICE TO PASSENGERS. DO NOT EMPTY THIS CHAMBER POT OUT OF TRAIN WINDOW. CENTRAL PACIFIC R.R.

10/26/2006 12:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The wording you mention is the wording on the fake chamber pots. These 'pots' were made in the 1960's and sold for a few dollars. I've seen them sold on eBay for as little as $10., and as high as $40. Hopefully, when you post yours for sale, you will say that it is a fake, not real, a novelty item from the 1960's.
G J Chris Graves, NewCastle, Cal.

10/28/2006 7:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry for the confusion.. I'm sending a picture of this chamber pot..I have been researching these last few days. The one I have has nails? on the sides of the plate that reads NOTICE TO PASSENGERS. DO NOT EMPTY THIS CHAMBER POT OUT OF TRAIN WINDOW. CENTRAL PACIFIC R.R. Don't worry if I find out it is a fake I will make sure the buyer knows. Thank you all for your comments.

10/30/2006 10:02 AM  
Blogger PepperTree said...

What anonymous says is true and these "fakes" are popular on ebay and often fetch far greater price than their value. Most are mislabled as genuine (I'm sure most sellers don't realize this) and some are even described as copper, but they're all brass underneath.

I bought one for a reasonable price and after receiving it, realized it was a repro. The worn copper finish came right when I started to polish it and I was left with a fine looking brass finish. I found the label to be a hoot and am very happy with this repro so I didn't complain to the seller.

1/29/2008 1:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Probably best to call them fakes rather than a "repro" as they are not reproductions of anything, i.e. there is no evidence that a CPRR original of this design ever existed in the 19th century.

1/29/2008 1:51 PM  

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