Fair Price for a Dragon Fan?

[Jim Kovar]

A flea market dealer friend of mine overheard a conversation between two other dealers about a wall-mount dragon brass fan one of them had just recently acquired.

My friend gave me the contact info of the fan owner.

I haven't seen the fan, and the owner is over four hundred miles away.

I haven't yet contacted...

Any suggestions for how much I should offer?

Past experiences have shown me with some flea market / antique dealers, a low-ball offer is often considered an insult and will end any further conversation.

AKA, NO DEAL, GO AWAY!

Again, any suggestions to how much I should offer?

[Nicholas Denney]

No way to know what's on their mind but it's usually best to fish for answers out of a seller if you don't know. What do they have in it, what kind of shape is it in, etc.

In general it's getting hard to price higher end fans with the wide variety of platforms and individual scenarios. Someone will say a fan is worth $800-1,000 and then a few months later I see two nice examples that didn't sell for half that. 

Assuming it's actually a genuine FWEW dragon fan, in fair condition, I don't think you should offer below $1,000 in any case.

[Richard Daugird]

If you are talking about one of these, last one I saw for sale was about $5,000.

https://antiquefanparts.com/circa-1918-fort-wayne-electric-works-fwew-dragon-phone-booth-fan/

[Steve Cunningham]

Depends on if it has a switch. Is the knob original. FW used a Bryant switch. The knob looks like a lightning bolt. I’ve looked for one decades.

[Jim Kovar]

I contacted the owner of
the dragon fan and I will
be sent an image soon,...
                    ...I hope?

[Jim Kovar]

Image received.

The wall-mount dragon
brass fan is in pretty
good original condition.

Maybe I'll reevaluate how
much I should offer?

[Jim Kovar]

1 hour ago, Jim Kovar said:

Maybe I'll reevaluate how
much I should offer?

I think I'm going to pass.  

Image of the wall-mount
dragon brass fan...

 

p.s.   Hopin' y'all had a
         great April first!  

Edited April 2, 2024 by Jim Kovar

[Steve Cunningham]

Lots of zeroes.

[Jim Kovar]

10 hours ago, Steve Cunningham said:

Lots of zeroes.

Yes,...
          $00,000.⁰⁰