Whenever I see them on eBay they're usually going for under 50.00. 

I have a pair that belonged to my Great Great Uncle.  They're leaning up in the corner of my spare bedroom. 

I'd think both pair for $125 would be more like what you'd find in a second hadn store near a ski area.

I think how much they are worth depends a lot on where they are...

Here in Jackson Hole, there is quite a lot of demand from interior decorators for truly OLD skis.  If they're wood skis with some sort of binding/strap arrangement and are in good shape, they'll sell for $250 or more for a pair.  I think that holds true for a lot of higher-end ski resorts.

I don't know that you'd want to get into old-ski-arbitrage as a profession, but the right pair in the right place can be pretty valuable.

^^^  What Bob said.  IN SKI TOWNS, especially those with trophy homes, really old wooden skis can range $200 - 800 dollars a pair.  I used to work in a store that sold them.

I see so many of those things on eBay these days I have to believe that there are people producing them home decor.  Not sure how many real estate vacation home designers will care if they are authentic/genuine.  Most people collecting them for that purpose might pay a premium if it is a particular model they don't have, but that is a tough sell.. gotta have the ad up for them in the right place and time that they decide to search.

Quote:

Originally Posted by crgildart 

I see so many of those things on eBay these days I have to believe that there are people producing them home decor.  Not sure how many real estate vacation home designers will care if they are authentic/genuine.

 

The ones in ski towns probably will care, because the last thing they want to do is be guilty of TGIF-restaurant-level nostalgia kitsch.     

Outside of a ski town, both real and fake are going to be kitsch-priced and sold by the yard, just like leather-bound books are.

They'd have to be worth more than a couple hundred to justify the effort of making a convincing fake. And all the good fakers are busy making 50's and 60's stratocasters for 10,000-50,000 each/  Skis last forever and they don't fit in a trashcan--I'm not surprised there are a lot of old ones floating around.  Kind of cliche over the mantle though--I have a Rembrandt over mine (fake).  

Real or fake, there are hundreds and hundreds of them on eBay going for around a hundred bucks shipped.

VINTAGE Wooden 70" Skis w/ POINTS + Bamboo Ski Poles

I love how they match late 20th century poles with ealry 20th century skis in many of those ads. They really clutter up my searches for old skis with these 'skis'. I won a pair of 'old skis' at a vintage race that I seriously doubt are really old. And this from a serious 'vintage' ski dealer.

If you are looking for decorations, buy what you like the look of and pay what you feel is right. Its decoration after all. But if you see 3-pin cross country bindings on skis listed as '1930s', you won't be getting real 1930s gear. TTBOFK, 3-pins were a post WWII invention. And there are 'tons' of 3-pin bindings on 'old' skis on ebay.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldgoat 

They'd have to be worth more than a couple hundred to justify the effort of making a convincing fake.

Convincing to whom?   The average TGI Friday diner?  Or a ski town property owner?    

The process depicted here: http://www.woodenskis.com/birchskimaking.htm is easily scaled to "making a sub-$100 Christmas season ornament" level.    And most non-skiers simply will not be able to tell a real set of skis from a wintery ornament.