To restore something on vintage military equipment, or leave as is?

[desertsky]

Hi,

I would really like some opinions by collectors or sellers of rare items on the forum.

I'm trying to figure out if collectors prefer items to be restored, or to be left as is.

The glass of a vector bombsight compass I have is badly cracked, obscuring the needle and direction marks on a large portion of the compass. It does not effect the compass operation, but it looks really bad. I can have the glass duplicated and replaced with the same etched and painted red rings as on the original glass.

Would this help with the value and desirability of the equipment to a collector, or would it hurt?

Thanks for some feedback on this.

 

[BikerBabe]

I would leave it as it is, as my experience is that any kind of restoration detracts from the value of the item.
Or: That's the way it is here, I don't know about where you are.
If you're planning to sell the thing, then why not add in the description that the glass on the item can be replaced for XXX USD, buyer's call?

 

[GregP]

I'm a collector of sorts and I restore my stuff. I'm collecting, not with intent to sell.

If you are selling it the above is good advice except I donlt think new glass would detract from the value as long as the old glass was intact and available to install. and no damage was done when replacing the glass. So that depends on the glass retention method used in your cpmpass.

But if you are going to sell it anyway, it's probably best to leave it alone as advised above.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

As a collector I can tell you that most of the time (not necessarily all the time) anything you do to "improve" an item actually reduces the value as it is then considered altered and not original.

 

[N4521U]

Handsa off!

 

[vikingBerserker]

If you are going to display it and the original glass can easily be put back, go ahead and put the new one in.

 

[GregP]

That's about what I intended to say, viking, but I didn't word it as well.

If the replacement is reversible without any issues, it's OK ... but he's going to sell it so why bother? The replacement won't add to the value and he won't get more for it because he had another glass made ... so he's pretty much wasting his money.

 

[desertsky]

Thanks for your opinion on the subject

 

[desertsky]

Thanks for all your replies, it seems that the general consensus is to leave it alone, but I like the idea of making a new one and saving the old one if the future owner wants to put it back.

I'm a collector of sorts and I restore my stuff. I'm collecting, not with intent to sell.

If you are selling it the above is good advice except I donlt think new glass would detract from the value as long as the old glass was intact and available to install. and no damage was done when replacing the glass. So that depends on the glass retention method used in your cpmpass.

But if you are going to sell it anyway, it's probably best to leave it alone as advised above.

 

[Shinpachi]

Wasn't it a Japanese compass?
If so, I recommend you to leave it as it is to sell because there are a lot of collectors who want to repair by themselves like this guy

 

[gumbyk]

It would depend on what it was out of, and if there were any aircraft restoration projects going on that could use it.
If you were able to sell a working bomb-sight to someone who was needing one for a restoration project, I think it might be worth doing the restoration. If, however it was out of something like a Lancaster, then it probably wouldn't be worth it.