Vintage Polarex Telescope

[SimonA]

I have a 1970s era 4" Polarex/Unitron which I 'm looking to sell. I understand it may be of interest to particular collectors of vintage equipment. Can anyone guide me on how I might go about selling it - for example are there specific forums on this website (or others) for this type of equipment? Many thanks, Simon.

[alocky]

There's quite a few collectors of these old treasures in here (myself included)! Best bet is in the classifieds forum here.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=9
These used to sell for silly amounts of money, but it has been a while since one turned up on here. looking forward to seeing it...
Cheers
Andrew.

[Wavytone]

If it's complete with original box and eyepieces it will fetch even sillier money on Cloudynights.com or Astromart.com.

[torana68]

condition condition and condition, plus the boxes and completeness,but, they don't get silly money in Oz , I hear the 4" can be hit and miss optically so if anyone is after one , star test it before shelling out.

[SimonA]

Thanks for the tip. I'll upload an add in the classifieds section shortly. Cheers, Simon

[The Mekon]

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=107549&highlight=unitron

Check the above archived post. Good luck at the current price, but so many of these scopes are advertised and then withdrawn as the owner does not get the interest they hope for.

[alocky]

I probably should have added the caveat that if the objective is one of the ultra rare ones made by Nikon (I believe there's still a few unaccounted for), or if the telescope is complete with all desirable accessories, such as the photo-eq mount and drive, guide scopes, correct legs and shelf etc. Or even the original clockwork gravity drive can fetch astonishing money.
Unfortunately just an OTA is more likely to be of interest as a replacement for a damaged one to a restorer.
Sadly, they just aren't particularly good or practical as telescopes, and the modern 4" refractors are far superior.
Sorry if I gave you the wrong impression on the value.
Cheers
Andrew

[torana68]

:) looks like you did, I don't see any value in the mount unless it has some history? if it does Id like to know, to a Unitron collector its value is $0 :( so that leaves the OTA, no other bits of value .... I spose not a huge amount for that , Id make an offer but I think the Simon would faint :) (well that and I just bought a 12" maybe not popular if another one came home) I bet there are a couple of watchers though :)

[SimonA]

Thanks for the feedback. I have no preconceptions on it's value, so anyone out there reading this, feel free to make me an offer; you just never know...

[torana68]

Do you know anything about the Mount history wise?

[Wavytone]

Simon, according to your add it has a Unihex - that's a rare beastie and together with a set of eyepieces and OTA is worth something though frankly i have no idea how much.

The Unihex as I recall it had a threaded socket for a rather large Kellner eyepiece that screwed in, possibly 40 or 60mm, an odd sized barrel a tad smaller than 2". Is that the case on this Unihex, and if so where's the eyepiece ?

The mount is worth $0 - its not the Unitron one.

[LewisM]

Quite right. I recently had a VERY rare 60/700 Unitron (only a handful known) and did not even get a bite here. With original mount (a rare type too). Sold it to a US collector for $400.

Wonderful study/man-cave glamour pieces, but, unfortunately not top-tier any more.

[brian nordstrom]

maybe , thats why I am extending the CI700 .
Brian.