They are being (or have been) reproduced by more than one person.
Wayne Schoepke was selling repops cast in iron at the Tomahawk meet last summer, he was getting $150 US for them, and they are real good copies. I bought one and I’m real happy with it.
I also bought one from BJ Pawlaczyk several years ago, he had them cast in aluminum, so much lighter in weight, but plenty strong enough to hold a rowboat motor. BJ has also repopped the cast iron Bendix motor stands of the late 1930’s.
So yes, the old cast iron motor stands are bring reproduced, some use iron to make them, others use lighter alloys. And as they make more of them, it makes sense that the repro prices would/should stabilize and plateau, or even drop some, at least to a certain extent. Having said that, the originals will still draw better money than the repops for the simple reason they are the factory issue. And although the copies are pretty damn good for the most part, there are some obvious differences from the factory originals that the experienced eye will notice right away.
The hole I’ll poke in the price coming down theory is that collectors will still pay premium prices for the factory original, they are not making any more of those, and supply is limited. The factory cast iron Mercury stands have a way of defying logic when it comes to sales prices, especially if they have the caster rail included. There must be some gold in that thar cast iron based on some of the prices I’ve seen on some of those suckers. But I digress……
To put it another way "original is original, and repro is repro, and ne’er the twain shall meet".
Hope this helps.
Best,
PM T2
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