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Seen this happening on a few models lately
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Matchbox-Les ... 418bbfe5b0
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Matchbox-Les ... 3f420c978a

They must think buyers are idiots !!!!

This is common practice in railwayana circles, where nameplates, cabside numberplate, and smokebox numberplate sets are sold as individual lots in order to maximise the total hammer price.

I have seen this happen a few times and is a sure fire way to piss off your customers who are looking for the model and box and end up paying too much for either.

Seems to be a trend that is becoming more popular with sellers.

There are some collectors who value the box as much or more than the models themselves. This gives them a chance to gain boxes for their loose models. On the other hand, it is those same collectors who have driven up the cost and desireability of boxes. In the good ole days, having a box only increased the value of a model by 10% to 15%. For those who would never consider loose models (and who placed high premiums on having only boxed models as well as collecting all the box variations), the boxes were a bargain at that calculation. It's collectors in this purist vein that have driven up the cost of boxes and the seperation of boxes and models at auction or sale.

I don't blame the sellers, they are pandering to the market and it's collectors who set the market rates.

doesn't bother me as It's the model that interests me , I know the box increases value and some of you guys love box variations
but for me a box is a bonus and I would not pay a lot extra over a loose model in the same condition
sorry if that upsets some of you

I doesn't upset me

It doesn't bother me either, it's up to people how they sell their legit items.

It annoys me! Such things shouldn't be separated

brainstrust wrote:It annoys me! Such things shouldn't be separated

I agree, you lose all historical facts by splitting up models.

brainstrust wrote:It annoys me! Such things shouldn't be separated

I was refering to the personal opinion of the Fixer. If I had a choice, I would prefer items remain together. However, I too collect the models and consider the box a bonus.