Apparently, a few of us, myself included, sent a comment to the seller questioning the bona fides of this item. I haven't received a response to my comments but we've hurt the feelings of the seller from what I gather.

See the revised Ebay listing. The price has gone down to $1,000 and the seller's comments complains about all the nasty comments he/she has been getting regarding this item. Seller asserts that they did extensive research on the item. Absent concrete evidence of where this item came from, I seriously doubt the item will sell for more than scrap value.

One thing remains....

"Cast Iron"..... 2 feet tall, 17" (apparently circumference?) and 1/8-1/4 thick?

Weight 10-15 lb?

Shipping $50?

wow....
What is it? Hey, you never know. Might be worth more than a bell!

My GMC truck makes a clanging sound too, wonder what it is worth?

Interesting. I wonder of Jack White's books on early American locomotives would help in this regard. Probably not, even if we presented a) his Smithsonian credentials, and b) the illustrations and text itself to these sellers.

The one thought I had was that it could be something whistle-related. I'm sure that the parties in question would happily see large single-note whistles on these steam locomotives and enthusiastically point them out, while ignoring the bells a couple feet away in lavishly decorative yokes and mounts.

For those who don't know, in steam/air whistle technical nomenclature, the part above the inlet that holds the chamber(s) which resonate when the steam/air is forced across them (the cylinder-shaped top part, in most cases) is called the "bell" of the whistle. This has produced confusion more than once. I once bought the five-chime bell of a Nathan steam whistle off the floor of a well-known hobby shop in the Northeast, where it was being used as--get this--a doorstop.

My friend, Ed Fagen, the author of the definitive book on North American steam whistles, "The Engine's Moan," once had a very long list of things posted on eBay offered as "steam whistle," "steam wistle," Steem whissel," and worse that were, of course, nothing even close. The stories are multiple and legend of anything from safety valves to tea kettles to popcorn machine whistles to air horns being offered as "steam whistles", often with pompous (and unprovable) stories about how it was used on the "Empire State Express" or whatever notable trains. The stories are much more discrete and whispered of spectacular bargains snapped up from blitheringly clueless idiots who misspelled "whistle" in their listings, however.

I will say that Tom's example at top probably "takes the cake" for bizarreness.

Rules against stupidity and cluelessness? Some people would suggest that such "rules" would immediately shut down two-thirds of eBay auction listings...... as well as Jay Leno's "Sold or Not Sold?" weekly (or thereabouts) segment on "The Tonight Show" with weird and wacky eBay listings......

For further bemusement, check out The Best of Craigslist:

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/all/

I once had an ad of mine listed in there. PM me if you want me to dredge up the text and send it to you as a way to post an effective Craigslist ad.

My single biggest complaint of anything on eBay or Craigslist is photographs of the item in question that have either too much clutter in the background, or are poorly lit, or both, and this one is both. If you're going to go to the trouble of selling something on-line (that is smaller than a locomotive or car) it would really behoove you to take a few minutes to set it up with a plain background and good lighting (outdoors in indirect sunlight is best). This item looks like it might have either pipes or brackets coming off of it, but really I can't tell where the item for sale ends and other things begin. This being the digital photography age, there isn't a lot of guesswork left in being able to take a decent photo. It's not like you still need a Polaroid back to take set-up images.

"It weighs an avg of 10-15 lbs".

LOL. What, the weight varies with time?

Well, yes, it does... You see, along with being a weasel, err I mean bell, it's also a manure spreader. So the weight varies depending on the amount of manure being spread. For this listing, I'd say it's on the high end of things...


(I'm guessing she meant "approximately 10 to 15 pounds", but didn't get the right verbage in there.)

Wait a minute. You mean the RyPN community (and whichever other forums this link appeared on)...
... had the effect of ...
... behaving exactly like the trolls/griefers of "Anonymous" on 4chan? LOL...

For your entertainment....their reply to me... unedited.

I don't know how old you are or what you know about bells but i have collected them for over 35 years & i have over 250 different sizes & shapes of bells from different countrys so a bell is not just a round piece of glass with a handle they have several makes & models just like cars & anything else thats around , my neighbor just like the reply i sent to you on sunday hes been a VERY AVID train collector for over 50 years & he even builds models of trains he makes himself ,i'm not talking about models you buy in a store ,when he sees one he likes but the price is to high he draws it out on a blueprint & builds it himself, hes also an artist with a college degree in art & he also a helicopter operator & machanic , the bell i have is 2ft high by 17 inches round & a thickness of cast iron with a handle to clang it with ,I did reasearch & found a replica that looked just like it but made of different materials going for over $3000.00 thats how i verified what it was so unless you lived in the 1860s & operated a steam engine train you can't tell someone what they have not real so unless you can prove otherwise you can keep you negative opinions to yourself if thats all you have to do on the websites is to cut people down on what they have.



I must say, I always thought those bells on the top of the boilers were made of glass...they're so crystal clear! .... I am sad to learn otherwise.

I think it's the turboencapsulator horn from the positive side of a konutin valve on the port side of the weezir.

Either that or a muffler bearing for an EMD F-13-1/2.

No No No, It's most definitely a gronostator assembly.....

I wouldn't be surprised if they will only accept cash, sent in a plain brown envolope, to Nigeria

"has a handle to clang it with"

I've never heard someone use the word clang as a verb in relation to a bell

Yup, that is definitely a railfan... :-b