I apologize in advance if this is not allowed or does not belong here.

My question is I recently purchased a building which was previously an old TV repair shop. I have a ton of old TV schematics. I have heard some people refer to them as SAM's. These date back to the 1906's, maybe further and go all the way up into the 80's or so. Are these worth anything to anyone? Thanks for the feedback.

Sam's didn't start publishing until 1946, not 1906 (Typo maybe?)
Typically, the interest is in the folders from 1 to 600 and some folks will go as high as #1000.

What are they worth? What ever you can get out of them. I tried to even give them away at times, with little success.

I have recycled maybe 7 - 10 van & trailer loads of them due to no interest. The shipping cost is the big drawback.
You might mention your location too, as some of the Forum members might have an interest.

I am looking for 600-1000 if anyone wants to unload them. Location would be good.

Well i can tell you this much, to buy a hard copy from a few sites online, it will cost you 7.95 or you can get a digital copy for 4.95.. are they really worth that much? idk.. I'm attempting to buy one on ebay for my TV for hopefully 2.00.. If you are a person that repairs stuff on a regular basis, i would say it would easier to unload them, but if you are someone that only does it once in awhile, it is going to be hard.

I need 6 of them to complete my collection. If you are willing to sell individual sets I need 22, 49, 189, 516, 519 and 520. I usually pay $2 each, plus shipping.

I'm in a similar situation as Johnnysan (in fact, he and I have traded a few over the years to fill holes in each others' collections). The ones I need are:

72 162 592 601

Easy to ship just a few.

It will not be easy to sell a complete set unless you find a local buyer who can pick them up. For a nice complete set with several hundred packets (technically Sams calls the individual envelopes "sets"), I would try to ask something like $200 (assuming condition is fairly good, with not too many missing folders). Years ago one could get much more, but lately supply seems to exceed demand.

You see many individual Sams folders for sale on eBay. Many do not sell, some sell at $5 or occasionally a little more. If you had the patience to photograph all of them and list them for auction, that might give you the best dollar return over time.

Sold as one lot . . . the value is what you can get, as others noted. The paper takes up a lot of space.

Sams folders are available free for copying at many public libraries. Since my local library has everything Sams ever published, I wouldn't take a complete set if you gave it to me.

Phil Nelson

Thanks for all the feedback as I had no idea and yes that was a typo! Sorry, should of been 1960is. I went through some of them this morning and here is what I have determined so far is they are Howard W Sams made schematics. Sams photo facts is what they call these schematics from what I gather and I have them from around 1200-2700 (folders). I am located in Lexington, KY, so let me know if anyone is interested. Thanks again!

If you are looking to try to sell these, then, you need to place an ad in want ads section with an asking price. The television section is for repairs, not selling.
Bill Cahill