The scratches looked better today (perhaps someone worked on them a bit before the auction today) but I would access the overall condition of the saw as good to very good, surely not excellent or like new. I figured that for $500 and the hardship of figuring out how to get it home, that it would have been worth it.
This was not an issue as the saw sold for $850 (+ 10% buyer's premium +8% sales tax).
Incidently the Jet (bench) drill press, with a cabinet support underneath, went for $110 (+ 10% buyer's premium +8% sales tax) and the Delta 8" jointer went for $225 (+ 10% buyer's premium +8% sales tax).
I was tempted to bid on the jointer, but I couldn't justify the amount of space that it would take up at this point. I read its owner's manual online last night, and learned a few things.
Lots of stuff at the auction was going real cheap, there was so much of it...boxes and boxes of nails, screws, fasteners, wrenches, sockets, taps--stuff lots of people have, but Mr. West had the resources to store large quanitites of stuff and he evidently took advantage of it. Towards the end, $5 would get you more nails and screws and fasteners than you could carry. For me the question wasn't "Is this a good deal?", it was "Is it worth trying to find a place to store it?" (as virtually all of you surely understand better than I do)!
There were lots (dozens) of old automotive-related antique signs--very few went for less than $100 and several larger ones went for as much as $850 (remember the red winged horse--the Marathon logo?). When I saw antique "wall" thermometers going for $135 to $300 and the "rusty ol' signs" going for $700-800, my hopes of getting a good deal on the TS diminished. A fancy antique gas pump went for $1500 (museum quality) and 2 tire pressure machines (the ones where you set the desired pressure with a crank) went for over $500 each! Those didn't impress me much--and from the way the wife of one of the buyer's rolled her eyes, they didn't impress her that much either).
Not a decent hand plane in sight. Well, there's the price update I promised. I saved you 5 hours in the hot sun (lovely day though)!
Bill