4777 Upper Valley Pike Dayton, Ohio 45424.
Two very interesting auctions were held in the late fall of
1990. Several impressions were common to both sales. Many attended,
many came a great distance, but the buying enthusiasm wasn’t
all that great. If more work had been done on the tractors,
certainly they would have brought more money, but attendees enjoyed
the camaraderie and the pleasant weather.
Wesley Slaubaugh held his annual old tractor sale at Lagootee,
Indiana on November 24. A large number of men-arrived early to look
over the 100-plus tractors offered. The general impression was that
most of the tractors needed a lot of work and had sat outside since
new. There were many unusual tractors, and the High Crops were in
demand. If a collector didn’t object to the work, there were
plenty of good buys.
There were fewer attendees at Ed Welter’s inventory
reduction auction December 1 at Verona, Missouri. Many arrived the
day before to canvas the hundreds of Minneapolis Moline tractors.
It was a fine time to get those much needed parts which are
difficult to find. The demographics would indicate that such a sale
would bring more revenue 400 miles to the northeast, where there
are more collectors and less hauling expense. Several people
remarked about the distance to haul any purchases.
Henry Dean, the auctioneer, started the auction with a MM riding
lawn mower which brought $160, followed by: a stuck MM Shop Mule,
$450; 403 power unit, $525; Avery V, $550; Avery MMA, $550; GMM
propane, $325; TC KTA, $900; TC 21-32, $275; TC 21-32, $400; TC
1936 MTA, $650; ZTU, $325; MM 6′ mower, $50; MM 3 bottom 3 pt.,
$140; RTU, $250; ZB single front wheel, $250; ZA, $300; 445
utility, $700; UTS, $200; 5 Star propane, $550; 5 Star Diesel,
$800; 4 Star, $350; 335 utility, $525; G propane, $400; GTA
propane, $900; 5 Star Wheatland, $650; G VI, $800; M5, $750; G VI,
$850; G propane, $850; GB diesel, $1300; UTS special, $960; UTS,
$550; TC J, $400; MM Avery, $650; Avery, VG, $300; ZTU $950; White
American 60, $18,000; 5 Star gas WF VG, $1900; M670 propane VG,
$2200; M670 diesel, $1900; G 1000 Wheatland, $2800; G 900 propane,
$1700; G 900 propane, $2300; G708 prop. FWA, rear out, $1325;
VISTA, smokes, $1900; White A4T, $2850; MM A4T $1700; MF 97
propane, excellent, $1350; 302, good, $2350; 445 pulling tractor,
$1450; IHC turbo 1066, $3500; G 900, $2800; 708 FWA, rear out,
$1600; G1000 propane Wheatland, $1650; 707, $1200; 705, $1000; Jet
Star 2, $1100; and a few others that didn’t sell.
Another auction near Lancaster, Ohio stirred a lot of interest,
as it listed four Rumely Oil Pull tractors. The spirited bidding
pushed the 20-30 to $4000, the 25-45 to $5700, the 30-60 S to
$5900, and (for dubious reasons) the 30-50 to $21,000. A rather
rare 8N Ford six-cylinder fetched $3200, and the ’37 John Deere
B with mower $1850.
Auctions are a great place to socialize with other collectors
and at the same time see what our toys are worth.
I lived through the attack at Pearl Harbor, I flew over Germany
in WW II, I was still in the AF for Korea and Vietnam and retired
in 1964. Because of my background, I’m very uncomfortable with
our men being in Saudi Arabia. My hope is for peace and love
without envy and greed.
