I think it will be hard to sell it within the US. The material is worth more or less nothing. The tracks seem to be rusty. What one must find is a collector of factory layouts. There is a small market in Germany. Anything between 100 and 500 € is possible.

M track usually cleans up nice with emery cloth, a light oil, or if needed, a very fine grit sand paper. A coating of light oil keeps it from rusting during storage or out of use.

Hi
Not sure but I suppose it is an original Märklin's "Werksanlage" of 1961-1962 (there were a number, all made in Germany) but here, the church has been replaced by an American-looking one.
Here is a real one in operation with typical vintage Faller houses


So for an operational layout, it is worth very approxcimately 500$ shipment additional
The street lights (Märklin n°7047) and the track field lamps (N°7048) are easdy to find
Cheers
Jean

It's a rare and early factory "Shop Window" layout (schaufensteranlagen). Märklin started producing them from 1959 to continue from the earlier Sales Models they built using Märklin Metallbaukasten.

There is a strong collecting community in Germany for preserving and displaying these older shop window layouts, and also replicas that enthusiasts have built.

This particular one is number 0043 and was available in 1960, here is the info from the catalogue "Sales Models for 1960. There can be slight variations between them. It was only available to order in 1960 and was 390 DM to the dealer, discounts often applied.



The value of it is very subjective and basically comes down to what someone is willing to pay on the day, but I would personally expect at least in the low-mid hundreds myself, dependant on actual condition, what works (or not), any rolling stock the might come with it, etc.

I've heard there are other examples in the US but I have not personally documented any.

Here in NZ I know of around half a dozen that have survived, there are two in our own club (donations from the former NZ importer), I also own one, there's at least one in Auckland and a further one that was in Rotorua, then went to Tauranga, but have since lost track of and I suspect may now be in Christchurch.

I encourage someone (anyone) to grab this while they can and keep it from being possibly scrapped, it's too good for that. They usually do not require much work to get them operational again and are enjoyable in their own way to see running automatically as they were originally intended.

I've amended the subject title for wider appeal

Awareness is one thing. Many people don't know much about this side of Märklin's activities (Sales Promotion). I certainly didn't until relatively recently in my Märklin life.

Posters and signs which enthusiasts love to decorate their train rooms with were just taken for granted although still hard to find. But I never thought about things like when they were produced, and how Dealers even knew about them.

Obvious in hindsight, but as I said I just never thought about it. You don't know what you don't know as the saying goes.

That layout will definitely appeal to a few people if they know about it.

I own a number of factory layouts & would want to save this from being scrapped, if no one else is going to buy it.

Mike, do you think you are going to to be able to get this?

Be great if you could, and as you can see there's a bit of interest but of course you have first-refusal.

But if it's out of your reach, would be nice to see it go to another forum member.

Do you know (or can you reveal) how much the seller is asking?

Cheers

Cookee

Edited by user 28 November 2023 04:29:42(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

While I hesitate to mention this...

If provenance to FAO Schwarz (or Macy's or whomever), and Märklin construction stamps/codes on the underside can be verified, that might raise the value a little, but again for collectors' benefit. (I mention this because of the changes in structures (would Märklin have changed them for the American market - I suspect not, but I have been wrong before)) Just a random thought....

Whisper Mode On I amend my comment to sewh800 as I have heard that the asking price is somewhat startling (at least to me...) Sorry Whisper Mode Off

Caveat: Peace. I fully understand that it is his layout and he may name his price. I have no arguments there.

sewh800,

I am not what one might call a "collector" so I was not sure about provenance and paperwork trails. Thank you!

(PM sent)

Edited by user 30 November 2023 23:06:43(UTC)  | Reason: Clarification and spelling error

Seems Mike is irregular in his visits so he may not have even seen these questions yet.

Is this layout still available?

Yep, and someone was recently right at home......




(To the left of the Wonderwheel in the case was this factory shop layout 'Kleinbahn')