Oldhammer minis - value?

[brasidas19004]

I've a pretty extensive collection of Oldhammer minis, 3, 4, 5th ed. which is when I slowly ended my time with WHF, many are mint or cleaned metal, some new in blister.

I am debating whether or not to stick with the old aesthetic, or move on to pace with the new one, as seen with Age of Sigmar, Warcry, etc.

There's definitely some amazing animation and detail on the new sculpts, and my 12yo thinks they are amazing looking. I get it. I find them a bit busy and they don't make good units due to the animation. Some trade-offs here.

Of course, I still enjoy the look of the old models, myself, and have a bunch that are very nicely painted and hard to part with.

Anyway, eBay has become a joke, and the prices there are ridiculous, IMHO. What are fair, going prices for the Oldhammer figures? As in good condition metal, whether cleaned, mint, full painting prep, new in Blister, etc. Not looking for the "exceptional auction" but rather typical cash prices these days.

Guidance and opinions welcome.

 

[symphonicpoet]

I've always been of the "play with your toys how you want" mentality. They are, after all, yours. And your 12 year old can play with their toys as they choose. And you can play together or not. (Hopefully together. Always better that way, I think.) And maybe in time they'll come to see the Oldhammer light.

But in the end this is a game and fun should win the day. Whatever makes it fun.

 

[MichaelStockin]

Hard to say but you prolly want at least a fiver for a half decent model, after all many 28mm figures are £5.00 each these days, so why sell a classic for less?

 

[Eric]

Well ultimately with collectables they are worth what someone is willing to pay. That can be very different from what they are nominally worth. Generally if it's a 28mm mini I have always wanted I'd probably be "happy" (ish) to pay £5-6 tops these days, otherwise I would tend to want to pay £3-4 at most for a second hand model. Of course it does very much depend, I picked up about 50 snotlings a couple of months ago for about £50, £1/mini seemed to be fair enough given that other auctions I had seen and historically they often went for a bit more and I'd have to strip and tidy them up. I'd rather like another old Land Raider kit for my marines, but they seem to command about £90+ on eBay right now and to me it's not worth it, I'd probably pay £30-40 perhaps (at the £90+ price I feel I'd be better off buying a 'Land Raider Proteus' from ForgeWorld since the sculpt is probably better). However given they keep selling they are evidently worth that.

In your place would I sell my old stuff? Very much depends, I sold a load of Chaos Dwarf stuff over the last few years because I decided I was unlikely to ever actually make up the army and it was all still boxed and in blisters so actually worth a bit more. I'd never been super keen on the newer (top hat) aesthetic from GW, but had bought the models mostly in GW sales years back. Prices I got seemed to vary quite a bit depending on how rare a model was, the bull centaurs would often go for £20+ each. Were they worth that? Not in my opinion, but evidently other people thought so. Otherwise the £4-6 per model seemed to be about average for the more rank and file bits. I need to get around to doing much the same for some Lizard man stuff, again because I don't see myself using or painting the models and so selling them is worth it (some space and some money). The rest of my collection can be torn from my cold dead clasp So if you have particular armies you are fond of and if those are painted I'd keep them. If you've got something you're less keen on and it's never really been finished (like my Chaos Dwarves and Lizardmen) and you'd appreciate the space and money sell them and see what you get. I'd not worry too much if they go for more than you think they are worth, just run the auction and let nature take its course. You can always look at "sold" auction prices to see what things have gone for in the past - much better indicator than the odd crazy "buy it now" price you might see for something. Certainly selling the stuff now(ish) makes sense as those nostalgic for that era of things are generally at the point in life where there might be more disposable income (in theory) than when they were young.

I do buy a few newer minis, if the sculpt takes my fancy. Can't say I worry about how they might fit into games, but that's because I don't have much opportunity to actually play so it's more about the painting/modelling side for me. I'd probably only get a proper new army if I was playing one of the new systems and then I'd keep it small these days. I nearly bought the new Heresy stuff from GW because the models are nice and I do like a bit of Heresy. Then I remembered just how many other models I have that I'd rather be painting and that realistically I should focus my attention on them first! So I'd only shift to newer stuff if there was a good reason, ie a particular love of a system or aesthetic, local gaming group, kid that wants to game with just new models, etc! Maybe the more war band type stuff would work - just get a dozen minis a side and enjoy some "modern" games with your 12yr old and then see if they want to do some larger scale older stuff with your existing collection?