What to do with a good enlarger

<p>I have a Beseler CB7 with dichroic head setup for RA-4 printing. I don't have room in my new house for it. The new house has more square footage than my old house but the bathrooms take so much space. What should I do with it?<br>

<img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3655/3314390850_760d95b44c_o.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="894" /></p>

<p>Donate it to a local school or college.</p>

<p>Shipping on these is nearly astronomical. If you can find someone locally to donate it to (for the price of hauling it off), everybody would be ahead of the game.</p>

<p>The catch is finding someone who will actually use it. So many institutions have gone on to digital these days.</p>

<p>Enlarger values are erratic these days. If you're in an area with few choices, high shipping costs and a college within reasonable travel distance, the enlarger may actually be worth a few bucks. I've seen several requests over the past few years from young folks outside the U.S. and major European nations who want to try the traditional darkroom and are willing to pay a reasonable amount for good enlargers. But there's nothing available in their area and shipping costs are prohibitive.</p>

<p>On the other hand, if you're near a typical urban area, there's probably no real shortage of existing darkroom materials, or shipping costs may not be too high. Most enlargers are giveaway items.</p>

<p>As a rough guideline, if I was near you and I had room for that enlarger, I'd offer up to $100 for it - personally I'd consider that a bargain for me, but probably a terrible deal for you. It's a good enlarger and you might get even more, but that's my budget. My Durst M605 still works, but eventually I may need to replace it.</p>

<p>I would try a site like Craigslist first and see if there is local interest. Last year I did that for a Leitz Focomat bundled with other wet darkroom gear...no interest, tried Ebay...no interest (shipping costs were too high). About 6-7 weeks later a photographer in San Francisco (I'm in the Chicago area) contacted me...seems somebody had told her about it but it took her a while to track me down. I told her my asking price (which was reasonable...not cheap, not expensive) and what I thought shipping costs would be. We struck a deal and both of us ended up being delighted with the outcome.</p>

<p>Many people like the Focomat and it's smaller than my Beseler (probably the biggest Beseler).</p>

<p>My Beseler 4x5 found a good home via Freecycle. <br>

https://www.freecycle.org</p>

<p>That's a very good high end enlarger, so whatever you do don't trash it. If you don't find a home right away, at least take it apart and box it up until someone comes along.<br /><br />As others have said, it could cost more to ship it than what anybody is likely to pay for it. But it is priceless to somebody who can make use of it. And if you get rid of it today and decide in 10 years that you wish you hadn't, you would have a very hard time finding exactly the same thing again.</p>

<p>Easy solution put it in the bathroom :)</p>

<p>Oh well I am not allowed to occupy the bathroom (which actually almost ideal).</p>

Where are you located?