I have several hundred rubber molds that I acquired from a custom
jewelry store that I worked for several years ago. There is quite an
eclectic mix. Almost the entire collection is custom. There is an
extensive marine collection, most are 3D and very well done,
dolphins, sharks, mermaids, sail boats, conch shells…you name it,
it’s more than likely there; couple of different zodiac collections,
plant and animal kingdoms represented, symbols galore, all sorts
rings w/ stones as well as bands. There are far too many charms to
list. The collection ranges in time from about 1975- 2001. I do not
use these molds and would love to find a good home for them. I’m
really not sure what kind of price to put on them being they are
someone’s life’s work, I would appreciate any guidance all of you
experts might have. Most of them are cataloged in a filing system. I
am located in the Los Angeles area so it would be great to find
someone somewhat local as the weight would make them expensive to
ship.
Thank You for all of the inquires regarding the mold collection
posted recently. There seems to be quite a bit of interest however,
I’m really needing some advice before I put a price on them. I went
through and counted, there are approximately 660 various molds
consisting of pendants of every kind ( animal, people, flowers, palm
trees, symbols; crosses, Judaic, Hindu; zodiac, hobbies, sports,
planes, guns, instruments, extensive marine collection just to name
a few!! ) links, earrings, bracelets, belt buckles and more. In
addition there are approximately 430 ring molds; bands, stones,
symbols, animals, flowers, people, freeform, etc…These are
cataloged with good drawings in a rolodex filing system. In addition
there are approximately 150-200 that never got cataloged. A lot of
these are custom pieces and there is quite an eclectic mix of things
ranging from wedding bands to custom knife handles. So in all there
are nearly 1200 molds.
This collection is the life’s work of my dear friend & mentor that I
apprenticed under many years ago. He earned a degree in sculpture
from Ohio State and minored in Medical Illustration. He’s no longer
with us and when I closed the store down a few years ago the molds
were passed on to me. There is some amazing artistry in so much of
his work and I know how much work went into many of the originals as
I worked along side him for many years. What kind of price do you put
on some ones life’s work? I’m really in need of some guidance from
some of you who have an idea of what they are worth to be fair to
the seller and the buyer. Any guidance will be greatly appreciated.
To all those who sent inquiries I will get back to you as soon as I
have some sort of idea on a price. If you would like to make a fair
and reasonable offer I will consider that as well.
Thanks again and I look forward to any input,
Kelly
In my opinion you should start with how much it cost to make a
mould. We charge Canadian $ 38.00 minimum. And then take a percentage
because of the volume. In some elaborate designes you could ask for
extra. Just my 5 cents.
I can’t give you a price, but i can say i have see "mass produced"
molds sell for 35-45 each.
If i were in you shoes i would sell them on e-bay. The more
interesting ones by them self and the others in lots of 2 to 5.
The best way to put a price on a mold is to ask what will i sell the
first casting for, and how often will i use this?
I’ll sell the first for 45$ and use it once or twice a year; 15$ 800,
once ever, maybe twice; 100
800 twice a week; 2,000
Selling the as a whole lot i don’t think would be wise. No one is
going to really WANT all of them, so they will really only pay what
they think the value of the ones they want is.
i bet you have molds that are only worth 10$, and i am sure there are
molds that would be criminal to sell for less than 500$ maybe more. I
would also sugest that this may be an opportunity for you to start a
casting business. An online catalog of your molds and sell the
waxes.
I can't give you a price, but i can say i have see "mass produced"
molds sell for 35-45 each.
Wow! 35-45 (US Dollar, I assume). There is a guy in Germany who
frequently sells large amounts of molds and masters from bancrupt
jewellery companies in Europe. Here are numbers from two currently
ongoing auctions:
Buy it Now: 5000 production molds - 9999 Euros (6992 USD) gives 1.39
USD / mold
Even with a LARGE quantity discount, going from 1.39 to 35 seems a
bit surprising to me. Without knowing any details, I imagine you’d
better explain very well what makes that particular mold worth 35
USD, other than mold production costs and emotional value.
In order to maximize your return on a specific mold, a wax is
required. There are so many very, very old waxes still being sold
via the wax companies that were simply ‘out of date’ 15/20 years ago.
No one wants them! Still if you have some ‘One of a Kind’ molds that
can be shown with a wax from the specific mold…then people will bid
the appropriate amount for the item…else, I don’t believe the
value is very high… 'What you see, is what you get! I would like to
have some new. different ‘up to date’ molds but not willing to
purchase site un-seen!
Old tooling cannot be priced to sell at anything like what it cost to
make. I used to deal with a man in RI who had tens of thousands of
steel die sets for punch presses. His price was generally $25 per
set. It costs at least $200 to have something like this made new.
Last time I was in town, I called him and he said I was too late.
Sold them all for scrap! Apparently $25 each was not worth it, so he
settled for pennies a piece to clear out the space.
Your molds are obviously worth a lot more to the right person. At
least some of them are. But it will take a lot of effort to sell
them that way.