A question for everyone... what determines if a stove should be used or if it will be cleaned up and stored or displayed and never used?
Entirely your own personal preference. They can also be used as you wish, and displayed when not in use.
Pure subjectivity. Although very nice unfired examples of rare or unusual stoves would be a leading category.
I recently acquired a Preway 3 burner. It looked hardly used. After I fired it up I realized that due to the new discoloring on the grate that it may not have ever been used. It made me feel a little bit guilty thinking of collectors of unused stoves. Well, okay, I didn’t feel bad for long. Brad
Brad, you were the first man on earth to witness this Preway's spectacular blue flame and warmth. That's something to be proud of. Ray
Personal preference? I'm a user of old stuff. I have one stove in collectible condition- bought for someone else and will be up to them to determine what to do with it. I have bought 2 NOS Trangias- they are quite used now. One was apx 35 years unused. I have pre-WW2 rare camera lenses in use, knocking around my camera bag. But others will have other values. Generally I buy items that are VERY used. They are cheaper and work equally well in my experience. And I don't need to bid against collectors. :-)
I don't have anything I don't use. Cooking outdoors with old stuff is a joy. If I had something I thought should not be used, I would sell it. It's all up to you.
Any unfired stoves I have will stay unfired and in display condition unless I have duplicates of them. I have far more stoves than I could use up in my lifetime, so I have no temptation to fire them up. As previously stated, it's personal preference. However, if you think you may someday sell one that's currently unfired, it's best to leave it unfired as it's only unfired once and will potentially lose a lot of value.
I think unfired is over rated and more important is that it works and is in great condition. I have several unfired appliances but I may light some with extra care. I bought them because I wanted nice pieces which might have had the accessories with them. I might leave them unfired though if I’m likely to burn paint or labels etc
I've had an unfired (or at most tested once) 111 in the past and while it was good to occasionally pull it out and look at it I eventually reached the conclusion that I think stoves are there to use. I couldn't bring myself to be the first though and, knowing that others do want to keep them intact, I sold it on. Picking up on a comment I made in another post, the (cultural) value of a stove is increased if there is a known history to it, or perhaps only an assumed history. That doesn't generally happen if it sits in a box or on a shelf. There was an element of history with the 111 I had because it came with the original receipt as can be seen in this post.
I do have a couple of display-only stoves: A Campus 3 which has a couple of internal issues and makes a great display with a copper kettle; and an Optimus 80 which I completely stripped and polished all of the grime and old lacquer off of before reassembling, the only stove I've done this with as it was done during a troubling time 6 years ago as a means of escapism while remaining at home. A display stove to me is something fragile or rare that I wouldn't particularly like to get damaged or lost out and about. They still get used but not taken on trips. Stoves get set on the "display" sideboard as they get fettled/used and take their turn on tea/dinner making duties and then get returned. Its a way to ensure they get used and remain in good fettle whilst still having plenty of retirement time Alec.
In the case of stoves I find the issue easy, because I have about 60 of them and even that puts me down as a small-timer so to speak. I like to use different stoves and I vary them on car campouts and hikes. But even so I can only practically use so many. So if along the way I've picked up a handful of NOS gleaming gems, why not keep some in unfired condition? They may make nice gifts or special small bequests someday. To me personally, their overall small monetary value is unimportant. The decision to light an unfired stove for the sole reason that that is its purpose and destiny is just as much a subjective aesthetic decision as the decision not to, at least in the case of a more-or-less large collection.
Provenance in collectibles means a lot; that has importance in stoves, and in firearms. Unfired helps value, too. But provenance is big. There's an auction upcoming for the Colt Single Action Army revolver that Pat Garrett used to kill Billy the Kid. Figured to bring 2 to 3 million dollars. Yahoo is now a part of Verizon Media If it had just been somebody's else's gun, it'd be a few grand...
I always said I'd never keep a stove that I wouldn't use, but then a Hipolito two pinter still it's box appeared at an auction. I probably won't ever burn it. I got a Russian made petrol stove a while back that's never ben lit. But I'm curious enough about it that I might see how it burns at least once.