Been offered a Merlin piston with history - value?
Discussion
Hi all,
Bit of an aviation nut and was cooing over a damaged piston and rod from the TMB Hurricane (rammed a Dornier heading for Buckingham Palace and buried itself in Buckingham Palace road). A really cool piece of memorabilia - I felt quite emotional holding it.
I swapped details with the guy who dug it up and he has emailed me to say that he has another piece that he would be willing to sell me. It is a piston and con-rod from Spitfire N3267 which crashed on October 7th 1940 at Postling in Kent and served with 41 Sqn at Hornchurch.
I really fancy it as a paperweight / desk ornament. I know these things are only worth what someone will pay for them, but where do I start? What should I offer?
Thanks
P.S. A Merlin / Meteor piston and rod with no history is worth about £200
Bit of an aviation nut and was cooing over a damaged piston and rod from the TMB Hurricane (rammed a Dornier heading for Buckingham Palace and buried itself in Buckingham Palace road). A really cool piece of memorabilia - I felt quite emotional holding it.
I swapped details with the guy who dug it up and he has emailed me to say that he has another piece that he would be willing to sell me. It is a piston and con-rod from Spitfire N3267 which crashed on October 7th 1940 at Postling in Kent and served with 41 Sqn at Hornchurch.
I really fancy it as a paperweight / desk ornament. I know these things are only worth what someone will pay for them, but where do I start? What should I offer?
Thanks
P.S. A Merlin / Meteor piston and rod with no history is worth about £200
Without being silly but unless its a particluar piece of history (eg the ramming hurricane) wouldnt all surviving parts have some 'history' to them? On that basis i'd guess its worth as much as any other...or what you're willing to pay for it.
On the other hand if he doesnt want it i'm willing to take it off his hands...
On the other hand if he doesnt want it i'm willing to take it off his hands...
as above- its what you're prepared to pay for it. Does that £200 mean a working piston- ie one which could be used today, or simply for the metal???
A non-working piston might be less!
Persoanlly, I would also check to see it the Pilot survived. I know they were fighters whose job it was to kill, but if it belonged to someone who died in the crash, I would'nt be too keen. Odd, really...
A non-working piston might be less!
Persoanlly, I would also check to see it the Pilot survived. I know they were fighters whose job it was to kill, but if it belonged to someone who died in the crash, I would'nt be too keen. Odd, really...
The guy I am buying it from is an aviation archaeologist, so it's all legit...
The Spit was shot down by a Dornier 17 and the pilot, FO Dennis Adams successfully bailed out and survived the war.
Have struck a deal now - its a pretty battered piston with two thirds of the skirting gone but in my opinion as a "sculpted shape" showing the violence of the impact, it is perfect. Its also an early Rolls-Royce manufactured piston too, probably fitted to a Merlin Mk II rather than Mk III. This can be predicted as it has RR inspection stamps - only the very early pistons had these, as most of the Battle of Britain Merlins had WLtd pistons with WPR inspection stamps, so its quite special...
Probably offered him too much for it, but chuffed to bits with the ultimate paperweight!
The Spit was shot down by a Dornier 17 and the pilot, FO Dennis Adams successfully bailed out and survived the war.
Have struck a deal now - its a pretty battered piston with two thirds of the skirting gone but in my opinion as a "sculpted shape" showing the violence of the impact, it is perfect. Its also an early Rolls-Royce manufactured piston too, probably fitted to a Merlin Mk II rather than Mk III. This can be predicted as it has RR inspection stamps - only the very early pistons had these, as most of the Battle of Britain Merlins had WLtd pistons with WPR inspection stamps, so its quite special...
Probably offered him too much for it, but chuffed to bits with the ultimate paperweight!
WTFWT said:
The guy I am buying it from is an aviation archaeologist, so it's all legit...
The Spit was shot down by a Dornier 17 and the pilot, FO Dennis Adams successfully bailed out and survived the war.
Have struck a deal now - its a pretty battered piston with two thirds of the skirting gone but in my opinion as a "sculpted shape" showing the violence of the impact, it is perfect. Its also an early Rolls-Royce manufactured piston too, probably fitted to a Merlin Mk II rather than Mk III. This can be predicted as it has RR inspection stamps - only the very early pistons had these, as most of the Battle of Britain Merlins had WLtd pistons with WPR inspection stamps, so its quite special...
Probably offered him too much for it, but chuffed to bits with the ultimate paperweight!
If you're happy with the price, that's all that matters!The Spit was shot down by a Dornier 17 and the pilot, FO Dennis Adams successfully bailed out and survived the war.
Have struck a deal now - its a pretty battered piston with two thirds of the skirting gone but in my opinion as a "sculpted shape" showing the violence of the impact, it is perfect. Its also an early Rolls-Royce manufactured piston too, probably fitted to a Merlin Mk II rather than Mk III. This can be predicted as it has RR inspection stamps - only the very early pistons had these, as most of the Battle of Britain Merlins had WLtd pistons with WPR inspection stamps, so its quite special...
Probably offered him too much for it, but chuffed to bits with the ultimate paperweight!
thats really nice.
a few years ago i bought my dad a merlin conrod that had hit the ground and snapped - all we have is the big end, about half of the main rod, with the bearings and part of the secondry 'fork' rod. a couple of the big end nuts still undo - its nice and clean and is a really nice desk object (my dads a kean collecter of rr stuff from the 1930's)
ive also got a complete merlin main conrod thats nice and chunky
my other merlin bit is a head, bare (bar some studs) with a bit of damage. the rr foundation as able to date it to july 1944, but the stamped number which would have id'd what plane it fitted is missing
a few years ago i bought my dad a merlin conrod that had hit the ground and snapped - all we have is the big end, about half of the main rod, with the bearings and part of the secondry 'fork' rod. a couple of the big end nuts still undo - its nice and clean and is a really nice desk object (my dads a kean collecter of rr stuff from the 1930's)
ive also got a complete merlin main conrod thats nice and chunky
my other merlin bit is a head, bare (bar some studs) with a bit of damage. the rr foundation as able to date it to july 1944, but the stamped number which would have id'd what plane it fitted is missing
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