Guidelines for Consignors

       The Fine Tool Journal accepts all types and amounts of antique tools for its auctions and tool sales, from a single piece to a lifetime collection. Planes (wooden and metal), saws, wrenches, drills, braces, hammers, gauges, rules, levels, and axes are particularly welcome.

       Although our concentration is on antique wood and metal working tools, we also accept other antiques related to tools and the useful arts, including ephemera (manuals, catalogs, advertising materials), surveying and scientific instruments, office equipment (manual typewriters, pencil sharpeners, etc.) and similar items. We generally do not accept firearms (although gunsmithing tools are welcomed), power tools, artwork (unless it is tool-related), furniture, or anything too heavy for a single person to pick up.

       We accept tools in any condition, although tools in poor condition may only be suited for sale in box or opportunity lots. We reserve the right to describe and estimate the value of all items offered for sale. However, any information that you can provide when consigning your items, especially about a particularly rare or unusual item, is greatly appreciated and may increase the value of your return.

       Although the Fine Tool Journal is no longer under common ownership with Brown Auction Services, we still work closely with Brown in evaluating tools, and if there are pieces in your collection that are more suitable for one of Brown’s international tool auctions, we can pass it on to them while retaining the remaining items.

       If you are interested in consigning your items, please read our standard consignor's agreement (click here). It contains our commission schedule, and more information about the terms of the consignment. If you have any questions, or wish to discuss it further, please don’t hesitate to either call 800-964-9036, or to contact Jim Gehring directly at 312-953-6898. It can be helpful to send us a list or a general description of the items included in your collection, it would be very helpful. Photos would be even more helpful! Lists, photos, and other computer files can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or mailed in paper format to Fine Tool Journal, PO Box 737, Watervliet, MI 49098.  To contact us by phone call 800-964-9036, or to contact us by email, send to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

       After you contact us about your interest in consigning and provide us with information on your tools, we will contact you and make the arrangements to either pick up your items, or to have them shipped to our location. Once we receive the items, we will enter them into our inventory system, and then place them in an auction or sale as soon as possible. We hold auctions four times a year. We try to get items placed in auctions in the order that we receive them, but we also need to keep a good mix in each auction and avoid too much duplication.

       The Fine Tool Journal's mailing address, for all paperwork is: P.O. Box 737, Watervliet, MI 49098

       The Fine Tool Journal's shipping address, for all tools is: 9325 Dwight Boyer Road, Watervliet, MI 49098