My grandfather has many new in the box vacuum tubes.He once spent a lot of time repairing TV's and radio's on the side . He doesn't do repair work anymore and would probably let me have them if I asked. Do these types of tubes have any current value? I know it would depend somewhat on the type.
I don't have any of the part numbers at hand but would check next time I am in Southwest
Arkansas on a visit.
Richard

Does he have any 12au7/ecc82/5963? My preamp takes those. Or EL-34, or 7199, which my still in transit old Dynaco ST-70 uses. Maybe a pair of 300b tubes for a home built SET amp.

Old tubes are getting harder to find, but new production in Russia, China, eastern Europe has been taking up the slack. Tubes never really completely went out of use, they were just hidden away in military gear.

I don't have a list of the ones he has. He is in his mid eighties and it will probably be in the fall or winter before I visit there. The last time I looked he had "numerous," american made new in the box vacuum tubes. Some were physically small, less than a couple of inches long, others were five or six inches long and maybe a couple of inches wide. Grandfather fixed radios and early B&W TV's in his local comunity in the fifties and early sixties.
I'm not too knowledgeable in tube theory. I've had a little theory in the Navy but have never worked with them.

If he fixed radios, there is a good chance that a lot of these tubes will be sought after by ham radio guys who still love tubes as much as some of us audiophiles. Try looking on Ebay and also go to local hamfest. I still get many of my NOS of audio tubes at local hamfest. Also a lot of his tubes may be currently used by PreAmps and Amps and may have a higher value than new ones. I picked up a gold mine when my Uncle retired and just gave me several big boxes. Over the years I have delved them out to friends. I hate to think of how much I could have sold them for, but they were free for me.