I recently inheritated a set of Marklin trains that my grandfather bought in Germany shortly after WWII ended. I was wondering if anyone could tell me where to look for the value of these trains. By looking on the original paperwork (in German)it states "Gauge 00". it also my be HO gauge. Not sure I just know the history of where they came from, I don't know much about the trains themselves.


SK800 loco w/tender
RS800 (2 but 1 could be mainly used as parts)
Mitropa 342
344 baggage van
386 poultry car(2)
Mitropa 343
327 passenger car (have 6 of these)
364 D.R.B. low-side gondola
Talbot 367 (2)
328 coach van (2)
341 (2)

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Melanie

Bill's right, pictures would be a big help in setting value, though I can tell you right now that SK800 has already raised a few heart rates. When it comes down to value, I point out three things to people---condition---what its book value is---and what you can get for it right now.

Condition is subjective and you'll be surprised, even stunned at the value of something that looks like junk over something that looks mint in box.

Book value is in a realm I've never dealt with. It is there primarily for insurance purposes.

Current sale value is best found in places like Ebay. Research what you have, compare conditions, catalog pieces---be patient---don't sell in lots, sell as individual pieces, take PayPal, open your market to International bids, give good descriptions...all these things help determine how much it's worth in the end.

I can assure you that the folks who were walking to the dumpster the day I was to toss grandpa's old "European train junk", would not have been so generous to me had they known how much that "junk' has netted me over the years since, and still left me with an heirloom quality set to pass on to my little ones.

Melanie.

You have a lovely collection of old marklin which any marklin lover would give their eye teeth to own. Valuable yes but not enough to retire on! No one could give you a proper valulation here. I will give you my rough idea but others will probably disagree.
Looking at ebay prices.The SK 800 is in poor condition and worth IMO $150 to $250. On the other hand the RS 800 looks very good and could be worth double that.
The rolling stock depending on condition worth $20 to $70 each

hope that helps
regards

Hello Melanie,

Drstapes has the best estimation...I would say the RS 800 is worth around $325 because it looks like the shell is on the end of crumbling...please be very careful with it. I have had some that were in great condition, then they crumble in my hands. I would advise you to keep this one because shipping it would be too great of a risk! It also looks repainted to me but I can never tell! Nothing extremely rare but certainly something you would find in a typical set. I do like that all the couplers are the (is it zinc?) silver kind.

Thanks,
Bill

Oh one more question does anyone know what the number is on the top picture that I have posted? I can't find a number on it and don't know what it is.

Thanks,
Melanie

Hello,

You have an offer in your mailbox!
Let me know,

Thanks,
William

I don't have any of the original boxes. sorry :(

I still have all of my trains for sale. As soon as the holidays are over I am thinking about putting them on ebay if I don't get any offers from here.

I will be working on putting them up on ebay hopefully soon! So, watch for them. I will post a link once I get them up. Thanks for the intrest!

Melanie