eBay Bidding War for a useless rock or what???

I noticed an interesting item on eBay that had a real serious bidding war going on...

for something called:

Straight Razor Sharpening Stone Gator Rock Hone Box
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330104577546

It looked like a piece of that myhtical naturally formed Belgian Yellow & Blue Coticule. The bidding war ended at US $110.99. I guess if that was the "real McCoy, then it was an ok price... too pricey for my blood, but maybe for one of the REAL HoneMeisters a worthwhile investment...

Is that what it was?... or was that just another "newbie" bidding war for a piece of $5.00 rock???

I'd like to hear from some of the HoneMeisters... was that the real deal?

Tony

I don't think from a users prospective its anything special. From a collectors prospective its unusual and rare and is probably considered a collectable item so thats why the bidding activity. Personally I wouldn't give $5.00 for it but then again I don't collect honing stones. Now if it had badger hair growing out of it, then it would be a different story!

I followed that one too. Nice looking and very thich natural but that staining on the yellow side worries me.

Tony

Tony, that's exactly what I thought about it. Probably a Natural Belgian but with a queationable light colored side, the side of most interest for honing razors.

It's one of those cases where the outcome is like the roll of a dice.

If the dirt is only on the surface and not soaked into the stone, it will clean up nicely and it could be a steal for that price.
But if the dirt and stains are through and through, you paid 110$ for something that is only useful as a small 0.5$ brick.

And that is of course assuming that there are no hidden cracks hidden underneath the dirt.

If you look closely you'll see there's a non-natural (i.e. dead-straight and man-made) seam going down the middle, to the left of the natural seam on the bottom half of the stone. The natural seam then joins it about half-way up.

I think the right half is a belgian natural, unusual in that it's mostly yellow, and it's bonded to a piece of slate (the left half). Another way of putting it is that it's a regular old slate-bonded coticule, only the coticule's got a wedgey bit of blue in one corner.

www.theperfectedge.com is selling "NEW" coticule for Approx. $7.30 per square inch...

So, to compare, IF I were able to buy this block of coticule brand new from www.theperfectedge.com it would cost me $132.49.

That's assuming that the black stain is removeable and the stone is salavageable AND REALLY is Belgian coticule...

At $110.00, used and pretty beat up that really is too much of a risk, I'd rather buy New....

If it had auctioned out at $30, or even $75, it would have been an ok deal...but still a gamble....

At eBay prices buy new I think.

Used stones from members tend to be fair deals too.

Tony

Here's What I got on eBay for US $76.00

For a 2-7/16" x 5-7/8" x 1" "BELGIAN SHARPENING STONE COTICULE EXCELLENT CONDITION"

I guess If I had bought Slate backed coticule of the same size from www.theperfectedge.com, it would have cost me Approx. $100.0, so perhaps $76.00 wasn't so bad....

Here's the BIG question, I'm not so sure that the bottom material in my stone is Slate...

The top material is a warm creamy yellow tan color, and the lower material is a purple, blue, mauve material. They are in fact two separate pieces of stone that have been glued together to form one stone. When I lapped the stone both materials are able to create an abrazive slurry.

The "yellow" material creates a creamy tan golden slurry, and the purple/blue/mauve material creates a blue/purple/mauve slurry. The purple material seems more abrasive that the "yellow".

Is the bottom purple material really just Slate, or could I have a stone that has both Belgian yellow and belgian blue/purple material....???

Here's the real joke...today I was digging around a local junk store near where I live and I found it's twin in a box of beat up old hones and stones.... It was EXACTKLY the same size and configuration.

The "yellow" part was the same but the blue/purple/ part had some purple/mauve in it but was more blue... I bought it for less than 1/20th what I paid for the eBay special...

Is it the "Real McCoy"? Do any of you HoneMeisters have a similar stone?

http://i16.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/95/58/da6d_1.JPG
http://i16.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/95/58/da6d_1.JPG

http://i11.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/95/58/ddcc_1.JPG
http://i11.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/95/58/ddcc_1.JPG

The "purple, blue, mauve" is the coarse natural Belgian stone of approx 4k grit. This is how they used to be made. I have several of them.

Hey Randy!

Thanks for the info!

If they're the double stones as you say then it sounds like then I got a reasonable deal for my $76.00, but a total bargain for the junk store Belgian coticule stone at $4.00! I guess that averages out to 2 "double" coticule stones for $40.00 ea...ok...I can live with that. now All I got to do is learn how to use them...

Also the older coticule stones are better? right?

I followed your advice and lapped my Norton Stones, first with the Notron "Flattening Stone", then with the 1000 Wet and Dry, then with each other....

Guess what the Norton 4K/8K WAS out of true!!! It had all kinds of high spots and low spots! It was brand new too!

So I guess I'll be getting ready to clean up the mess that I made with my two razors ealier this week......

BTW I lapped my two Belgian Coticule stones, first witht he Norton Flattening Stone, then the 1000 Wet & Dry, then finally with each other... came out Sweet!

All the best, and thanks for all the help and advice!

Here's the latest eBay bidding war for a "magic stone" that went for $112.50...

I guess 'cause it was a fairly rare "Thuringian straight razor hone NOS (New Old Stock)"... but still that's more than the "NEW" price!!!

Hey, I spent 76.00 for my Belgian coticule....ok it was worth it, BUT I I am mindfull that YESTERDAY, I bought EXACTLY the same Belgian coticule in a "junk store" for $4.00...

http://i2.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/95/a1/7068_1.JPG

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=170096591444

I'll bet you dollars to donuts that the box and the stone didn't originally come together. We don't know if the eBay seller bought it like that or put the box together with the stone. Fraud may or may not have been intended! There is so much weird stuff going on with stones these days on eBay and that's just ONE of the shenanigans I've seen in the past. The stone does indeed look like a natural belgian but the coticule surface looks kind of yucky.

That myth keeps getting perpetuated. It started with a posting from a guy in Europe who I tried to track down repeatedly and couldn't. I was trying to find out why he thought that was true. My degree in geology tells me that the stones mined 100 years ago were 20,000,100 years old while the stones mined today are only 20,000,000 years old. The same coticule veins are being followed into the blue stone quarry face today just as they were mined 100 years ago. I hear this kind of myth in other fields of endeavor as well such as steel for knives where people say "oh, the old steel is really the good steel for knife/sword making; today's steel is so-so" NONSENSE!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Howard

My degree in geology tells me that the stones mined 100 years ago were 20,000,100 years old while the stones mined today are only 20,000,000 years old.

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Why would they be 'older' just because they came out of the earth earlier?

Not being a geologist, my explanation has more to do with market forces. Once upon a time when the resources of this planet seemed infinite... coticule quarriers and their consumers could afford to be picky and chosey, and only quarry, mine, dress, and sell "First/Best Quality". Leaving behind the lesser grades of stone as tailings and waste...

As the rsources of Coticule became rarer and more finite and less and less abundant, market forces drove "Second Quality" into "First quality", as the stocks dried up even "Third Quality eventually became "First Quality"....

By now I would assume what used to be considered "tailings" and "waste " 100 years ago are now sold as "First Quality"...

I guess that somewhere in all of this is an object lesson for us about the rest of the resources of this planet that we are devouring...

We live on a tiny, fragile, finite little marble in space, and we should cherish, protect, and be more careful with the resources that we do have still remaining... before we lose it all...

I guess besides getting a close shave, I do like the idea of rescuing, renovating, recycling and giving these vintage and antique artifacts a second life...

TG