(Glued) Belgian Combo Hone

So, here's a question for the group. What's up with the price of this combo hone -- $471? I could be missing something basic, but I've always thought and assumed that natural combo hones are a lot rarer and therefore worth a lot more than the ones where a coticule is just glued onto a Belgian blue. And this is definitely one of the glued ones. Also the length of this hone is certainly long (10"), but the width is kind of puny (2 1/4"). If you want to check out the complete listing, it is item number 380192083520.

Anyway, someone brought this sale up to me in a discussion today, and it got me wondering. Is there something about this hone that I'm missing? Thanks!

2 1/4 is definitely not puny and 10" is rather hard to find. A while ago there were not even 8" ones at ardennes and as it gets harder to mine them the prices are going up.
If you find the buyer you can ask them whether the story of the barbershop history that the seller posted added extra value.

Actually, it's both a glued stone, and a natural combo. :) I've seen a few like this, where there's a yellow coticule section with some blue in it on one side, lapped and glued to a large blue. I think they did this because the yellow/blue natural combo portion wasn't thick enough to resist breaking on it's own, so they glued it to a larger blue for additional backing.

Gugi's right, 10" coticules are really rare, regardless of width. And this is an old one. My guess is it went for so much because of it's unusual size, and because it's vintage. I'm betting the "waxy" look to the stone is because the old barber used lather on it for years, similar to how old Swatys acquire a waxy look over the years.

ah, totally missed that the yellow piece has part blue too. so yeah i guess that tells us what kind of coticule that is too. of course that means the effective thickness of the coticule is less, but for honing who cares, they last forever and then some.

Thanks, that's interesting. Obviously there was something about this hone that appeals to quite a few people, because there were plenty of bidders (although not all the way up beyond $400).

It is a big arse coticule that is hard to find, that is what :)

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Originally Posted by JeffE

Thanks, that's interesting. Obviously there was something about this hone that appeals to quite a few people, because there were plenty of bidders (although not all the way up beyond $400).

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I put some bids in on that auction ... hoping no one else would see it.

Alas, it went for an amount way over what I was willing to pay for it.

I'll stick to my 2x8 glued combo for now I guess.