Hi all, I am rather new to CCS, So I will first introduce myself. To start with, I am not a real collector. Like some said on a CCS post ‘I just happen to have a lot’. At least a lot more than I use. The cause was an advertisement: When spare parts for my old optimus 00 were not available anymore, I put an advertisement in a local newspaper for ‘primuses and/or spareparts, for use, not collecting’. This brought a whole flock of retired campers to our home, that wanted a good home for their primuses, but did not want to be a collectors bargain. We mostly paid with a box of chocolate or a bottle of wine. We selected only those primuses that could be cannibalized for 00 spare parts, but often we were obliged to ‘take the other one too’. So we added two liter primuses we did not want (a Bat and an Aida), and a lovely optimus 96. And we still had my grandparents primus 71, and an MSR GTX with the gray pump (the original white one caught fire, due to some defect in the pump). Nowadays all our primuses are nearly forgotten, as we switched to mini-trangia’s and wood-burners. However, reading the posts on this forum I thought that you might appreciate some pics of the primuses. I open with the oldest one (and least one I think) a phoebus 30 with the pre-war lighthouse. It misses the travel cap and flame spreader, the filling/airvalve is Svea, and I doubt if the legs are original. In its past it was cleaned with a brass-polish (the white stuff in o.a the lettering), and the common brand here in the Netherlands is Brasso, which I think contains ammonia. The upper surface is a bit rough, and I am inclined to say ‘decoration only’. The belly however looks nice and sturdy. It has seem little use, the dirt it came with was mainly cobwebs. On the belly is stamped N 5. Now I will try to upload pics.
End next week I have time to post some more. There is a nice Standard and 3x optimus 00. All from the early ‘60 I believe. Thanks for the warm welcome thumbs up.
However, I don’t know if my ‘method’ would work again. This was about 25 years ago, when ebay etc did not yet exist. We bought from aged first owners, that cherised happy memories with those stoves. They wanted a new owner that would use their stoves as they did in the past. That generation has passed away now. It is their grandchildren that put the stoves on ebay etc. and they are less sentimental.
@Classic camper Not so sure about that. I have bought a number from ebay sellers where there has been an obvious sentimental connection between stove and seller - "my father bought it when .... it was in grandad's shed .... etc" On arrival, I will often give it a quick check over and try lighting it. With successful attempts I will frequently then take a picture of it running and send it to the seller with a message on the lines of "made tea with it within an hour of delivery" This often prompts a thank you reply about how pleased they are to see it running, which could be out of politeness or out of genuine interest and affection/nostalgia for it.
Yes, I believe you are right concerning the sentimental part of children and grandchildren. A nice gesture too, the pictures. But I still don’t believe the ‘not collecting’ will be the same bait as it was then. People seem to better understand collecting and collectors now. Mainly due to the transparancy of prices on ebay etc., and due to sites like CCS. The people that brought us their stoves connected collecting with money-making and speculating, like with art. I assume that giving their super valuable stoves away to ‘deserving campers’ was a kind of protest against that business, and also a gesture of independence (we do not need the money). Sites like CCS show that collecting is often not very profitable, to put it mildly .
You are probably correct. You need to factor that as time goes by there will be less and less interesting stoves out there in the wild of peoples camping stores (as opposed to small or larger vintage collections of some sort). The CG Bleuet gassy would now be the most likely donation/offer. It has been around 60 years or so and people are adding some of the earlier or more practical/interesting/unused models to their collections. At the present time they are perceived as having little monetary value and they will never be culled when there are peaks in the scrap value of brass. Saying you are a collector or restorer or user, (as opposed to an investor or speculator) might persuade some donors; perhaps me and my tea making pictures give that suggestion, albeit after the sale/purchase has taken place.
I agree fully with that. The shifting towards classic bluets triggers a thought: in the largest part of the world kerosine and gasoline are still an important cooking-fuel in every day life. Would there not be interesting stoves from the African continent, China, Central and South Asia, and South American countries?
Hi. Perhaps this is old news to Phoebus experts, but I noticed a new (to me) feature with this stove. There is a Phoebus 30 for sale on ebay now, and there I find explanation to a detail on one of the stove's feet. There is a threaded hole where you can attach a handle. I guess for moving a lit / hot stove? Håvard
@Håvard Kvernelv that handle is home made. The threads in that leg are supposed to be the place to store the reserve cap when the stove is in use. Nicola
@Nicola Francesco Elia - I just found out about the reserve cap, like in this post: Phoebus No.30 Doesn't surprise me that the handle is home made, as "us stove users" :-) can be rather inventive, right?
