Thread: What does "New Old Stock" mean to you

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The key to all of this is the concept that NOS is NOT a physical condition but rather a retail term describing the circumstance. It has nothing to do with condition. Mint or new or perfect are physical conditions.

We see this alot with NOS watches. Often times a retailer will have a demonstrator which has been in a window for 2 years and people handle it and drop it and try it on and it can have all kinds of scratches and nicks but it's still NOS because it has never been sold before.

This is a great point. I had a NOS Puma that I opened from the original packaging that had some blemishes on it, and I had another one that had warped scales. They are still NOS, but not mint.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

We see this alot with NOS watches. Often times a retailer will have a demonstrator which has been in a window for 2 years and people handle it and drop it and try it on and it can have all kinds of scratches and nicks but it's still NOS because it has never been sold before.

Personally, I would see stuff like that as old stock, but not new old stock.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

Personally, I would see stuff like that as old stock, but not new old stock.

Years ago Bulova manufactured accutron watches which are based on a Tuning Fork. They took back many of these watches with defective mvmts from retailers who had sold them with an eye towards remanufacturing them. They never did because they stopped making them however that is old stock. They also had mvmts that had never been cased into watches and were brand spanking new. That's new old stock.

The key once again is not to think of NOS as reflective of the condition of the item.

I agree that it's not to do with the condition, but if something has been handled, it's no longer new in my eyes. A car that has been testdriven is no longer new, nor is a floor model that's used for demos (a display model may be new, if it's not handled). At least that's how I see it.

Back in the '70s in the pocket knife collecting world a mint knife might have a "pepper spot" or two ..... or more and still be considered mint, or close to it, if it hadn't been carried or sharpened. I've seen sellers qualify an item listed as NOS but shopworn. Particularly with high end bicycle parts.

Some of this depends on what it is. If a guy is selling a currently produced TI, Dovo, or even a Zowada, and he says mint or NOS it better be pristine. If it is a C-Mon made in the '50s and there are a few blemishes or the familiar slight warp in the scales by the metal emblem I'll allow a bit of latitude.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The key to all of this is the concept that NOS is NOT a physical condition but rather a retail term describing the circumstance. It has nothing to do with condition. Mint or new or perfect are physical conditions.
.......

+1 on circumstances.

The circumstances are when it gets interesting.
New -- never delivered or sold to an end user.
Old Stock -- no longer available from the manufacturer,
the manufacturer may be a note in a history book
or a durable legend.

Interesting implies lost in time and space, examples might be
-- A fine old razor that fell behind the shelf 80 years ago
recently discovered when tearing the store down.
-- A mis labeled crate of 500 that sat in a warehouse or customs impound
for 100 years...

Other interesting bits are when the components sat for ages in
some unfinished stage of assembly. Unpolished and unfinished
razors from 80 years ago. Quality steel but no final grind, no
polish, no end sale etching for blades intended for something
like the 1915 San Francisco worlds fair but lost until now...

Yeah, that would be about the same for me: New, never used or honed razors from years gone by.

I noticed a few points made, but I think each is still not what I'd call NOS: if it's been in a display it's a "display item," and Best Buy or other big box stores usually distinguish these. If it's never been used, but has some rust or other wear, it's not NEW old stock, it's just old stock. For me, use extends to displaying as well. And Jimmy's not about mint is totally different than new. Mint is a condition, not a level of use. I think you can have a non-mint used item and a mint used item. Rereading the posts, I think all of this stuff was said already...

I would make one distinction within the NOS term: New in packaging vs. New out-of-packaging. Some collectors would prefer to have the complete packaging, which I can understand. I had a mint box for one of my Shumates and it was sweet! Too bad I decided to throw in in the washing machine...

Originally Posted by BingoBango

.....snip.....
I had a mint box for one of my Shumates and it was sweet! Too bad I decided to throw in in the washing machine...

Washing machine?

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

I've seen many different things referred to as "New Old Stock" - some I agree with and some I disagree with. I'm wondering what all you guys think.

To me, NOS means that an item is exactly as it was when it was purchased, and that it is a vintage item. I don't really consider the packaging, though. So, for example, a razor is only NOS if she has never been honed or used in any way.

The only possible exception my own definitiov is the NOS Friodurs that are floating around, because they may be new grinds from old blanks. I call them NOS even though I don't know if they are actually Old Stock per se.

+1 Yep, that's how i see it as well.

Old stock just means it's something that was produced years ago and may or may not be currently available however the distinction between new old stock and old stock is the new doesn't mean new in the sense that it looks new and is pristine rather it has never been sold before.