Value of old gear

I lucked out on craigslist and now own a collection of old chouinard, camp, and dolt pitons. I also have a chouinard rock hammer and some crack n ups. Most are in excellent shape. The research I've done make me believe these are worth a pretty penny but I'm curious if I can get a more exact values out of someone who knows more.

It really depends on what you've got. Also what someone is willing to pay for it. Generally ebay has astronomical prices but as long as it's not too over the moon I've seen people pay it. You really have to watch the market to get a feel for what things are going for. Condition and whether a piece has been modified also makes a big difference. If something has been mechanically changed collectors will only pay %50 of original value but you may get more on ebay.

There are many different types of Chouinard pins (angle, hand forged, production lost arrow?) and I think 34 different Chouinard hammers (Yosemite, crag, alpine) of different years. You've really got to post some pics to identify and price things. You can't price something until you know exactly what you have. Also search Supertopo for some good vintage gear threads.

From what I've seen over the last few years(approximate):
Pitons
Chouinard angles - $10
Camp - price of scrap metal
Dolt - $20
Chouinard hammer - $50-$150, really depends on condition
Chouinard Crack n ups - $30? full set

There's lots of opinions/debate on how much this stuff is worth. In the end, you need to collect vintage gear because you enjoy it.

Eric

I do recall seeing a single Crack 'n Up sell on eBay for $338 sometime in the past couple of years. A Chouinard alpine hammer is currently $181 (buy it now price). Ah, found the thread on the Taco:

How about this one a chouinard lost arrow singed by royal Robbins

Marc,

Again, yes you can list anything you want on ebay for any price. And you may get some fool bidding on it. That's fine. Crack n Ups and hammers just aren't that rare. The crack n ups might go for a little bit more, I could see myself paying maybe $60-80 for a full set, but that's it. And no way $350 for one! The listing you showed is not the norm. If you don't believe me, fine, go ahead and list a single crack n up for $350. I hope you get it. But you see this all the time on ebay. People list things for astronomical prices hoping to find that one guy who doesn't know what he's looking at or it's going rate. This opinion comes from having watched the market daily for the last 3 years. You might get $180 for an alpine hammer, that's not very far out of the estimated price range I gave, if it's in nice condition or rare.

Joe,

It sounds like you have some very nice pieces and a great start to a collection. The real value in them is what they mean to you. Do you think their interesting and cool? If so have a great time learning the history of climbing and collecting more pieces. If you are just in it to turn a profit. Good luck to you. That may or may not work out.

The Royal Robins piton is a cool piece. I would definitely hold onto it if I were you. It probably goes for between $50-$75. Maybe more if the piton is rare. I've seen similar pins selling at Chesslerbooks.com signed by Fred Becky, Layton Kor, and Conrad Anker for around that price. By the looks of the pen used it looks like it came from there. A lot of collectors consider Chessler to be astronomical prices (it is retail after all) but in the end you have a piton signed by Royal Robins. And that's pretty cool.

Eric

P.S. Warning! There are tens of thousands of items out there! Collecting is very addicting!

Marc Chrusch wrote:I do recall seeing a single Crack 'n Up sell on eBay for $338 sometime in the past couple of years. A Chouinard alpine hammer is currently $181 (buy it now price). Ah, found the thread on the Taco:

That's a #1 Crack-n-Up. IIRC there were only 6 of those ever made and they were never sold at retail. Others may wish to confirm this. The #2-6 are MUCH more common and a mint set of those might fetch $50 or more.

Ok, Gunkiemike might have the answer to all this. I didn't realize it was a #1

Yes, only sizes #2-#6 were ever made and produced. I've read that Tom Frost made a few #1's that were like tin foil and never sold to the public. Still, $350??? Not worth it in my opinion.

Okay, here's a photo of almost everything I have.

2 x #3 crack n ups
2 x #6 crack n ups
2 x #2 crack n ups
1 x #5 crack n ups
1 x Random MSR crack n up piece. According the yosemite climbing museum it's a climbing piece but the name is unknown. Mine is is much, much better shape than their's =) yosemiteclimbing.org/conten…

9 x Camp interalp lost arrows

10 x Chouinard knifeblade / bugaboo pitons

2 x Chouinard angle pitons

2 x Dolt lost arrow pitons

1 x set of chouinard nuts

1 x chouinard hammer

Nice! That's some good looking gear Royal! Everything looks to be in near unused condition and rust free. At least from what I can tell after blowing up that pic.

Ok, so here's my opinion on what you've got:

Most valuable pieces:
1. Dolt pitons - I'm thinking ~$20 ea., I've paid similar for some rare Holubar but you might want to do some more research. Dolt always seems to have better value than other manufacturers.
2. 1972 Chouinard Crag Hammer - ~$150, hard to tell with the pick protector on. Many times the pick was filed down or altered. Collector's will balk if it has been but ebayers won't know the difference. This is a nice specimen. The handle is clean, the shoulder sling and lanyard look to be original super tape, and the head looks unused and rust free. It does look like the ink in the Chouinard logo might be gone. Hard to tell from the pic. If so that will reduce the value, even among ebayers.
3. MSR Crack n Up - $???? this could be a very rare and valuable piece. Post a pick on ST and ask some questions.

The rest of the stuff:
1. Forrest Foxhead - You missed this one. It's the short wired large nut with the pine tree logo on top. $10
2. Set of Chouinard nuts - Good condition, ~$80
3. Set of Crack n Ups - $40-$50
4. Bugaboos - $5-$10ea
5. Camp/Interlap LA's - $10ea
6. Chouinard Angles - $10ea

Also look to see if any of those biners are older Chouinard, or Bedayn, if so there worth something.

Eric

PS Let me know what's up with that MSR crack n up. I'd be curious.

You have me really curious. The MSR piece I'm guessing is a fishhook chock, but it's hard to tell. See page 4 of the below catalog. Sadly, no pictures so IDK. I can't have been popular.

thesummitregister.com/wp-co…

Personally I'd say the Dolt pins and Crack N Ups are the most interesting pieces there. The Dolt pins are things of beauty and the Crack N Ups had low production runs. As said, there were only a half dozen of the #1's and I'm pretty sure one of them is permanently inside a bathroom wall in Bend in a house that now belongs to a non-climber. I still carry and use a couple of mine free climbing (have taken a thirty footer on a #3) and got the last few sets out of Chouinard's basement when they shutdown. Here's how I rig them for free climbing:

I finally got around to taking better pictures of everything. I also inventoried everything. In the first picture does anyone know what the red plastic handled devise is for? And also, I still haven't figured out what the small metal triangular wedge shaped piece is for (in the bottom right hand corner of the first picture).

2 x #3 crack n ups
2 x #6 crack n ups
2 x #2 crack n ups
1 x #5 crack n ups

2 x MSR Fishhook chocks - one left and one right (a crack n up take off, rare!)
9 x Camp interalp lost arrows

10 x Chouinard knifeblade / bugaboo pitons

2 x Chouinard angle pitons
2 x Chouinard RURPs

2 x Dolt lost arrow pitons

16 x Chouinard nuts (#1, #1, #1.5, #1.5, #2, #2, #3, #4, #4, #5, #5, #6, #6, #6, #7)

1 x Chouinard hammer
1 x Stubai hammer
1 x Lowe LAS split cam + one spare spring
5 x Forrest foxheads
4 x Forrest arrowheads (#1, #1, #2, #3)
4 x Forrest titons (#1, #4, #6, #8)
1 x # 1 Wild country friend
1 x # 5 CMI Kirk's Kamm
1 x #5 Chouinard Tube chock
25 x Chouinard Hexes on cord
2 x Chouinard drilled hexes on cord
9 x Chouinard nuts on a cord
2 x Chouinard hexes on wire
4 x Clog hexes (#3, #3, #4, #5)

2 x #4 SMC camlocks
7 x Bonatti locking carabiners
14 x Bonatti carabiners
3 x Chouinard carabiners
2 x Wyott carabiners
3 x Royal Robbins carabiners
1 x Eiger carabiners
2 x SMC carabiners
1 x pear shaped aluminum quick link
1 x Chouinard gear sling
5 x Clog hexes (#10, #9, #7, #4) loose, not slung
3 x SMC ‘nail’ type bolts
7 x SMC ‘nail’ type bolt hangers
1 x Salewa stitch plate
1 x drill holder / spindle marked ‘England, No. 14 For 6-8-10-12-14 Rawdrill’
1 x Wedge shaped steel piece approx. 2 inches long. Unknown usage (probably a bolting tool).
1 x plastic handled cranking tool. Unknown usage.

The wedge shaped piece of steel is called a drift pin and is used for removing the drill bit from the handle.

Are you sure those hexes are Chouinard? Liberty made some that looked just like most of those. I still have (and use) a bunch of them. I think only Chouinard made the drilled out ones though (some of those broke in use, and in light testing, so they weren't made for many years).

Something to consider is doing a trade (old for new) with someone who owns a climbing shop. I knew a shop owner who wanted to set up a display case of antique climbing gear. I gave him a bunch of old stuff, in trade for new things that I'd climb with.

Any carabiner collectors out there? I have old biners that have chouinard stamped on one side and "alcoa" (the aluminum company) on the other. I also have one of the infamous hollow biners made by Chouinard. I wonder how many of those were made? I'll have to dig out my Crack'N ups to see what size they are.

I have a vintage Korean made solid-stem Camrad I'm willing to trade for usable gear. It's in pretty good shape. I'm looking for either a new cam/tcu in the <1" range or any assortment of aid climbing gear.

Don't know how I missed this thread...very interested in some of what you have and will pay a fair price.

Sending PM

Thanks for all the help guys! I've learned a lot. A drift pin, got it!

Royal wrote:Thanks for all the help guys! I've learned a lot. A drift pin, got it!

I own that exact hand drill and drift pin combo, lol. Pretty good for the pre-sds era.

The 'Kirk's Cam' - we called those 'Swivel of Death' after a single outing when CMI first started selling them...

Healyje wrote:The 'Kirk's Cam' - we called those 'Swivel of Death' after a single outing when CMI first started selling them...

That makes sense. I'd be scared to climb on one. They look like they'd fall out of any possible placement at a moments notice. Cool looking though . . .

Royal,

I have sent a PM about purchasing some pieces.

Jim