So..saw an Optimus 22 going for over 500.00 on Ebay. I wonder if I should take mine canoeing anymore..seems more suitable to put in a safe!
Yeah they are kinda rare. especially the left burner. I use all my stoves but some only get used once a year or just for tea/coffee at work/shop. My one Primus 41 went on a winter camp with me this year but I pack it well. Jeff
Jeff, I rotate using my stoves once a month heating up tea or coffee. My regular user at the moment is a Phoebus 625 as its fast and quiet. Use it and sometimes my Trangia 25 kit depending on the situation. The more of a shelf display are the shiny brassies 96, 210, 220, 71 and the 41. Ron
I do the same. I also take a different stove to work for making/heating up lunch. My current stove is the Vargo wood stove with a pop can stove. Cheers, Jeff
I pretty much use all of my stoves. I do have a few shelf queens but they are about to be fired up since I can't stand to have a stove just sitting there doing nothing. Currently, I'm on a kerosene and brassie kick. Just went out with my Radius 21, Optimus 00, 45, and my Coleman kero lantern (237A 500 candle power). It's fun to be a little more hands on with my stoves than using a gassie. I still have not fired up my unfired British Number 12. I look at it often and keep wondering how hot that burner really is. I guess I need to find a user Number 12 so I can burn the stove for my self. Maybe the Number 12 isn't that valuable to begin with? It's just a pile of stainless steel and brass anyway. $500 might be a lot to fire up a stove. I would probably have buyer's remorse if I paid that much for a stove. I nearly had buyer's remorse for a stove I paid $50 for. Of course, if the stove was used, I would fire it up. If it was new, I would have a hard time firing it up. But then, why have a stove you can't fire up? There's also those stoves that I've labored for many numerous hours to restore where some I've fired up immediately and just one that I've refused because it was so delicate and difficult an operation to clean up. Like this Primus 71 that I cleaned up and didn't want to trash: Primus 71 1947 sam
I saw a Primus 41 recently on Ebay that would have been $200 shipped and it was in rough condition. I couldn't pull the trigger because it would really have been too valuable to use at that point. Sad thing is that is the first and only 41 I have ever seen for sale. [sigh]
Last 22 I saw on the bay went for about £80 - $120US. They like the rest are only stoves, light them up and use them. When your dead they won't go to museums, they will go in a skip, sold for scrap or put on ebay...use the bloody things, its what they were designed for and you won't be viewed as the saviour of some rare artefact.
For me, there's no fun in waisting my hard earned cash on overpriced stoves (OK, I paid to much for my Borde ) and than not use them as they might lose "value". Most of the fun is in fettling them, and use them when the occasion arises. What's the value of a stove you're affraid to use? NONE!!! It just sits there for you to drool over which makes them rust away... People with cash to spare can collect whatever they want, and hide it in a safe. I want to have fun with whatever I spend my money on. Just my thoughts on this (none of my stoves is to valuable to use )! Regards all, Wim
Well I'll keep using it but I won't be taking it when I go down rough water. It wasn't worth 500.00 when I acquired it... but they sure fetch a lot of money today!
Some people just get crazy with the bidding and forget it's about the stove not the investment. lance
I agree 99% plus I think lit or unlit is more of interest to the collector than the museum. There are a few rare stoves - either by type or provenance that museums may have an interest in - but that's down to you to establish before you pop your clogs I reckon.