Geo. A Hensley Mold Question

[seagiant]

Hi,
Well I finally came across my first Hensley mold after reading and hearing so much about them. It is marked Geo. A Hensley # 50-358-146. It is a wad cutter bullseye mold. 2 cav. and came with handles. I am actually not interested in the mold style its self and I'm not a collector. This mold should be from the late 1930's, is there any interest in these? If so If I wanted to just sell the mold what is a fair price? Thanks!

http://hgmould.gunloads.com/molds/50.jpg

[CSH]

According to the information on Tom's website that you referenced, a mould manufactured in the 1933 - 1939 timeframe will have "Geo A. Hensley" stamped on the handles, but not the blocks. Post 1939 moulds will have "Geo A. Hensley" on the blocks. The partnership with Gibbs began in the 40's, after which "Hensley & Gibbs" was stamped on the blocks.

As for what is a fair price, I can only convey my experience. I own a 4 cavity #34 Geo A. Hensley mould that apparently was manufactured prior to 1939. This is the 230 grain RN for 45 ACP. The mould and handles are in absolutely mint condition. It is truly a beautiful piece of work and a pleasure to use. A couple of 4 cavity H&G 503's had recently sold on ebay for upwards of $300 (one for $500), so I listed the #34 for a starting bid of $200. This was about a year ago. I thought since it was an older mould and possibly collectible, it should be worth at least as much as a mint condition H&G #68 and would probably sell in the $250 range. I was wrong. The listing had lots of views, but I received only one offer of $140 to buy it. Apparently most people buy H&G moulds to use, not to collect.

The #50 seems to be the most common H&G mould and (at least on ebay) has the lowest selling price. The #503 and #68 designs seem to command the best selling prices. A 4 cavity #50 with handles auctioned for $76 just last week. I would guess your 2 cavity mould will bring at most $50 - $60 if it's in good condition.

[seagiant]

Hi CSH,
Thank you very much! Excellent information. This is a very nice mold,the only thing is,I don't really use that style of bullet. I guess in the 1960's when Bullseye was the game,there was alot of need for this style but no more! I'm thinking now to just keep it unless someone really wanted it. It's nice to pour some bullets to just plink with.

I am now keeping my eye open for a 10mm (#332?) It is like the #68, .45 Auto,but for the 10MM. That maybe hard to do! Thanks again for the info!!!

[CSH]

If I were you I would keep it unless you really need the money. George's early moulds had some unusual features that required a lot of attention to detail. Just look at how these screws were carefully modified to fit the mould. You seldom this type of craftmanship today because folks aren't willing to pay for it.

[seagiant]

Hi,
Well that is nice work but it is different than mine. Mine has the retainer screws doing double duty, as retainers of the blocks and one screw holds the sprue plate and the other screw on the other side is the sprue plate stop! These are screwed in from the top so there is no screw heads on the bottom of the mold or anything at all. The bottom is solid ironl This is really what I would call simplistic genius and I have never seen bullet molds set up like this! When I went to clean the mold up the first time I had to look at the mold a minute to see exactly how it was set up!