New old stock. As new. Uninked et. etc.

[jarc]

Having watched that well know auction site for quiet a time I am amazed at the amount of NOS, As New, Uninked etc, fountain pens that are offered for auction.
Plainly many of the sellers are dealers and several in particular have constant supplies of this status of fountain pen. I mean certain sellers are offering this status of pen in many numbers over the space of a month.
I just wonder where these constant supplies of this status of items is being obtained from.

[Chrissy]

You get used to this. You need to become an experienced 'old hand' buyer.

[jarc]

You get used to this. You need to become an experienced 'old hand' buyer.

Sorry, I do not understand. What is an experienced "old hand" buyer. I can match the "old" bit if that helps.
I still wonder where all of these items actually come from.

Regards

[FredRydr]

Keep in mind that serious collectors started squirreling away the best new old stock pens long ago, and they kept or traded those pens for decades. Now if those senior collectors are unable to enjoy their hobby anymore or their heirs have no interest in pens, guess where those pens end up. They flow onto the market through eBay or otherwise.

Or are you thinking of something more nefarious?

Fred

[Chrissy]

You get used to this. You need to become an experienced 'old hand' buyer.

Sorry, I do not understand. What is an experienced "old hand" buyer. I can match the "old" bit if that helps.
I still wonder where all of these items actually come from.

Regards

Maybe not all sellers are 100% truthful when they sell uninked?

[jarc]

Keep in mind that serious collectors started squirreling away the best new old stock pens long ago, and they kept or traded those pens for decades. Now if those senior collectors are unable to enjoy their hobby anymore or their heirs have no interest in pens, guess where those pens end up. They flow onto the market through eBay or otherwise.

Or are you thinking of something more nefarious?

Fred

No, oddly enough I was not thinking about anything wicked or criminal.
I just wondered where these obviously dealers kept on acquiring these NOS etc., pens from.

[jarc]

You get used to this. You need to become an experienced 'old hand' buyer.

Sorry, I do not understand. What is an experienced "old hand" buyer. I can match the "old" bit if that helps.
I still wonder where all of these items actually come from.

Regards

Maybe not all sellers are 100% truthful when they sell uninked?

Yes very true. I certainly am old enough to understand what you are saying about "uninked" and "as new" .
I do however think it might just be a bit risky for what are obviously dealers (because of the regularity and number offered) to offer NOS items that could be proved not to be as such.

[mrcharlie]

I think they are buying inventory from small businesses (jewelers, office supply stores, etc) that are either going out of business or moving and being forced to confront a lot of old inventory they'd tucked away as unsellable over the decades. Perhaps they come in contact with a professional "picker" (what a horrible name) and pay the pickers to find old FP inventory while they are looking for the stuff they are actual experts on; one who has access to jewelry store liquidations would be ideal.

In one case the website owner sort of implied in a post in a forum that after somewhat serendipitously finding a business owner selling/retiring/whatever and getting a good deal on the old inventory, that business owner had also given the pen shop owner a lot of fraternal industry contact leads for other stores of similar characteristics that might have old stock to sell.

I am just speculating; educated guessing. I don't know. I did buy a NOS Sheaffer Agio (only about 10 years old) from a person on ebay who described herself as a picker and who'd purchased a "tray" of 20 or more of them from a defunct jeweler. That and the oblique comments posted by a pen site owner as I described above are the sources of my guess.

[jarc]

I think they are buying inventory from small businesses (jewelers, office supply stores, etc) that are either going out of business or moving and being forced to confront a lot of old inventory they'd tucked away as unsellable over the decades. Perhaps they come in contact with a professional "picker" (what a horrible name) and pay the pickers to find old FP inventory while they are looking for the stuff they are actual experts on; one who has access to jewelry store liquidations would be ideal.

In one case the website owner sort of implied in a post in a forum that after somewhat serendipitously finding a business owner selling/retiring/whatever and getting a good deal on the old inventory, that business owner had also given the pen shop owner a lot of fraternal industry contact leads for other stores of similar characteristics that might have old stock to sell.

I am just speculating; educated guessing. I don't know. I did buy a NOS Sheaffer Agio (only about 10 years old) from a person on ebay who described herself as a picker and who'd purchased a "tray" of 20 or more of them from a defunct jeweler. That and the oblique comments posted by a pen site owner as I described above are the sources of my guess.

I reckon your speculation is very much on target and probably contains a lot of what is very near to the truth.