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Larry
and Carole
Meeker
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Internet
Antique Dealers & Brokers
530-620-7019
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Antique
& Vintage Mouse, Rat, Gopher
We can help you sell your Antique
& Collectible Rat Mouse and other Small Animal Traps!!
We deal in & sell early patented mechanical
animal traps. We also buy The
unusual cast iron open lattice work mouse trap with a heart shaped motif
cut-out at the top corner of the page is known as the Royal and was patented
during the last quarter of the 19th century. It is an example of a great
and rare mouse trap worth several thousand dollars. The two mouse traps
just to the left on the o We are very interested in helping you
sell unusual antique mouse
and rat traps from the same era as the Royal.
Please contact us at
History Eliminating mice seems to have been a
challenge for mankind since the
beginning of time. Early traps often operated on the deadfall
principle crushing the
creature who ventured into uncharted territory looking for a morsel.
Primitive deadfall traps can be found in sized for critters as small as
mice to those for men or even larger prey.
Most antique and collectible mouse traps that are found today are from a later period.
And there are many interesting patented varieties available from the
heyday of development in the late 19th century. The
typical wooden Victor Trap which cost just pennies to buy essentially
won the battle to develop the "best" / cheapest trap and most of the
would-be competitors
quietly disappeared forever and their attempts at better ideas have now become collectibles.
Values of Traps
There is no real price or value guide available for these devices and members of the
Secret order of the Trap Collector Society voted to not release any secrets.
Price guides form the 70's are irrelevant, but EBay
can be a good source of current information for individual traps.
Over the years I have found some
good traps for as little as $1.00 but paid a horrible price for the one up
in the top corner. I have bought and sold many in the $100
range and a few at the $1000 or over level. There
is a lot of
middle ground between those numbers and I can help you determine which are
which. Many of
these vintage mousetraps look very similar to each other, but each one pictured is
different, and many of these traps have patent dates or catchy names like
Cat's
Paw, or Can't Miss Trap. I am not sure where the old phrase to
"make a better mouse
trap" came from, but the sheer number of different mouse traps that are out
there attest to the fact that a lot of people sure were willing to try
over the years. The
best mousetrap I ever had was an economy size half gallon jar of
grape jelly I left on the counter one night after If you have examples,
including the primitive larger wooden crusher traps, or some of the
various live traps that are available, let me know. I
am also interested in unusual rat traps, gopher or mole traps, and other
small antique animal traps as well. I do not need any more cats, as
our cat Buster is a handful by himself. Please
contact me at
LCM The
yellow plastic trap in the picture to the right was made here in
California during the 60s or
70s and is a scream and actually
more of a joke than an actual working trap as its spring is too weak to
work well. The next trap is
a bit unusual because it is a 5-hole model and Finally, the days of setting traps
out as users around here are over for the time being. The fellow
below, Buster, does a masterful job on them and the only ones we ever get
to see since getting
him are the dead offerings he brings in and leaves around the house.
Last year he let one go here in the basement. I saw it, but it ran off and
died before either he or I could get it. A month later we had to
empty the room looking for it the stink was so bad, and sure enough it was
under the last and heaviest bookshelf. We showed him his first
mouse the day we brought him home at 6 weeks out in the field and he knew just what to
do. He does not do as good a job with the voles, moles or rats, and they
are all over the gardens, and so we are interested in buying early patented
versions of traps aimed at these critters as well.
Buster said that they don't taste as good, and that
they are not part of his job description anyway. He also says that
it was his great great grandfather who posed for that
yellow likeness
above. There is a similarity. I do not need any more
cats, and Buster wouldn't allow it, but if you have any unusual small
animal rat or mouse traps that you are looking to sell, please contact us at Thanks!!
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Larry & Carole Meeker
