I have been collecting inert ordnance for almost a decade, and the incontrovertible lesson I have learned in terms of value is:
It is subjective, based on the individual and often determined by an irrationally high, final bid on Ebay.
On some days I have paid nauseating, high prices for a specimen and on the next day I will succumb to the old "I don't want to carry it out of here, so how much will you give me."
Ergo; pennies on the dollar.
Read the next sentence very carefully.
I dislike placing a value on an item, because every time I value something; doing so gradually prices me further and further out of the hobby.
However, I will do my best to answer your question as both a collector, restorer and fabricator. Depending on my enthusiasm, level of fatigue or blood sugar; it goes something like this:
"One dollar a millimeter" =Mint condition, including stenciling.
"50 cents a millimeter" =Aforementioned over 75mm.
"25 cents a millimeter" =Poor condition over 75mm.
''5-20 bucks'' =Poor condition under 75mm.
Bomb casings in any condition =Spare no expense / crazy money. :tongue:
I make around $15.00 an hour at work, so I often base my fabrication rates around that.
So....a now poor condition 40mm whatever that took 10 hours to restore and/or cutaway would cost around $170.00.
However, out of my tons and tons of inert ordnance, I don't own a single cutaway.
Cutaways, like German and Japanese ordnance (because of insane asking prices) are not worth turning my head for.
On a side note....
Real world, non-Ebay auctions are weird. They are a magical place where worthless scrap metal is first assigned a monetary ''value''. I don't understand these events yet due to my relatively small amount of experience. All I know is that at these events my value system is incompatible if not unnecessary.
In summary, when it comes to value, I have come to the conclusion that only inert ordnance collectors collect inert ordnance. No one else has a clue.