ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
I know they are liked by a lot of people but I never thought they were this desirable.
http://www.lauritz.com/en/auction/bang-olufsen-radio-beolite-40-bakelite/i3177518/
I prefer the wood of my Jet 505 and I'd sell it for a fraction of the price that this made!
3350€ or thereabouts. Wish I had one or the pockets to buy one. Collectors are obviously willing to pay for something as iconic as this.
I paid a lot more than that for my total restoration of my Beolab 5000 system and speakers and some would baulk at that but to me, it was worth every penny - and I could afford it at the time I did it.
Dave.
Not everything in that auctionhouse is as you would expect or presume...My bet is that this radio will be listed again in a few weeks.
Having said that; There seems to be a growing interest in the vintage units. Far more than wasthe case just a few years back.Some more than others, of course, but generally good pieces bring quite respectable amounts.
Martin
Hi Martin,
can you expand on that without breaking any libel laws?
First thing; I live near one of their showrooms and, from visiting myself, I can safely say that I won't buyanything I haven't looked at in the showroom.A pinball machine was listed with the usual "cannot guarantee functionality" - it had no circuit boards inside.Beosystem 6500, mint condition but with the same "cannot guarantee" - all cables cut, all covers lose, tonearm glued in place.Lots more.
Second thing; It's not uncommon to see this auctionhouse place bids on the items themselves (shill bidding).From following many listings, I can tell that several items, typically those that ended far higher than expected and valuedby their 'experts', are seen listed again a couple of weeks later.They will typically sell for far less the second time around.There can be many reasons for this, maybe buyers regret bidding or what do I know, I just see a pattern.
We had it up a few weeks ago with (I think) a Master 39K and recently a rare Grandessa 507 that turned outto be considerably incomplete was relisted and sold the second time for a fraction of the first winning bid.
I got 3 lauritz auction experience under my belt.
1: Late 2007 a lot including the 3 main units, BM6000, BC6000 and BG6006 in original white and good outside condition. Getting the 6000 bits home I found that it was all DOA and a reel to reel tape that turned out to be stolen (I send it back same day to the owner the day I saw a name in the box. I did not have a reel to reel player back then). Martin serviced all of it.
2: In 2008 I got a Beovision LX5500 with 1989 year on it with a bunch of link cables+ 1611, 1615 converter boxes. It still works and was a good deal. I have also used the various cables/boxes at some point in time. I did have the arial socket changed as it was not good. The Beolink 1000MKIII was dead so I got the printboard changed and it is still my main remote these days.
3: Beosystem 6500 in chrome/black with BM6500,BC6500 and BGCD 6500 + Beo4. Description said defective speaker outputs. On arrivial the BM said: timer out. Speaker left was then fine and right a bit bad. Only the BM was bad. Martin ended up doing the service but a non experienced person had been there before. Where do you find these units? Well Lauritz in this case. Number 2 on the list of worst B&O to ever service so far. Much later I think I found the non experienced person asking for help on a bad right channel and getting timer out as a result.
Lauritz conclussion:
Hit and miss really. The B&O get's on there for a reason and that is space I guess. If it was working it would be worth a lot more and put for sale in other forms if not being used and enjoyed. Non working B&O units are to good to give away to thrift stores though it does happen once in a while at least in Denmark but they take up space in peoples home. So Lauritz is perfect in that sense as they get some money for it and get rid of it without the trouble of selling it as defective which takes longer time if they can get it sold at all that way.
The auction houses themselves are cold places nearly without 220 voltage outles for testing electronics and they do not test it themselves. I can recall looking at BM8000 in 2008 or rather smelling of being from stables or something like that. It was also hardly lightning up at all. Pass! Looking back 5 years later and hindsight maybe it could have been better than the BM8000 I ended up getting which was the worst to service number 1 but that was a private seller.
General advice see the stuff upclose and know who is going to do the service. It was put there for a reason. The best B&O is 98% of the time advocated for sale by private persons and B&O stores. Use common sense and let it prevail. Only few can do the service and most of B&O owners do not know that fact so dead units gets complicated as in what to do with them and Lauritz is an option. That is one reason at least why it comes back to be relisted. People bid and win. They pay and get it home only to find its faults. With no service option it goes back.
BeoVision Haermony 65"...BeoLab 28 Anthracite....BeoLab 17 as REAR....BV10-32....BC6-26....Beosound 9000....Beosound 1 New York edt....Beogram 4002....Beoplay Emerge....Beoplay M5....Beoplay M3....Beoremote Halo....BeoRemote One BT....Beo6....Beo4....Beo4 Cinema....BeoLink 7000....Serene....H95 Black LTD....H9i Rimowa....6 x H6....Form 1....U70...
I never doubted you Martin!
Obviously the problem is that the previous "tunned auction" didn't catch any naive buyers...
It is a beautiful radio and indeed very rare but the "expected" price is obviously to high ...
Vintage Bang & Olufsen
Broken rear cover, cracked speaker frame, only one intact knob.These are parts that can be difficult to find.
In my opinion, even a Beolit 39 (which is by far more valueable) would struggle to reach theestimated value in that condition.
Oh, and there is no Beolite 40 (as this one was originally listed). It's a Beolit 40.The earliest individuals of the Beolit 39 production (slightly different set) had the Beolite 39 lettering onthe dial but it was changed during production and the Beolit 40 never had the same.
And those comments...So much cr.. in so few lines;
This was the first radio with a bakelite cabinet.- No, it wasn't. It wasn't even the first from B&O.
This was the first receiver to bear a Beo- name.- No, it wasn't. Beolit 39 was and that was one year earlier.
Production was first resumed in the 1950s.- No, it was never resumed.The set, I bet they are thinking of here, must be the JET 505K which has a somewhat similar design, albeit mirrored andnot quite as round, but it was not the same set, quite far from actually.And It did not have a bakelite cabinet (as seems to be what they refer to), it had a wooden cabinet - plywood and quitecheapish at that if you ask me.And even this one wasn't made in the 50s either but in 1949.And Beolit 48 had a bakelite cabinet too, production start late 1947.
Oh dear, this auction house ...
...and again
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