I'm rather surprised at the bit of negative commentary here.
This old lathe appears, from the refinishing done on it, and the plated bits, to have been someone's 'pet' at one time. From that, its most likely to be in generally good serviceable condition (otherwise, its quite unlikely that anyone would have invested the time/energy in appearance work)
This one appears to be of 1895-1910-ish vintage, approximately, the era of slow spindles and forged carbon-steel tooling, an extremely inefficient machine by more modern standards. That said, once levelled-up, it may well be capable of holding .001-ish on dia., with careful operation, adequate for the generality of repair or hobbyist work. (way wear is a question mark.....its possible that this machine's history could be from a plant maintenence shop where it was little used, so it would have come down through the years in surprisingly good condition......thats a 'maybe', of course, and only with a good first-hand inspection could one say)
As a 'hobbyist' or small private repair shop machine, this one has some potential value, if one has the building space available. At that first-cost level, if it does one useful job in, say, two years time, its a cost-effective investment. (it appears to be a 16 or 18" swing machine, a good convenient size to use if one were to remove its raising blocks, and reserve them for re-installation only as might be needed for larger dia. workpieces)
A probable very good use for this lathe would be in the field of ornamental wood-turning, on a hobbyist or artisan level. It would do the work usually done on a much more expensive Oliver or equivalent patternmakers' lathe, just not nearly so quickly, with its slow spindle. I'd think this machine might find a good home with a woodworker who would like to experiment with a bit of wood-turning which would need its size and relative rigidity, such as doing ornamental columns.
In short, that one appears to be a potentially excellent deal, for the right person.....its a useful capability, and well worth putting back to work.
cheers
Carla
10"x 10 feet! Looks in pretty good shape too.
