I purchased this Newhouse #5 bear trap this weekend and paid $650 for it. It may not be a smoking hot great deal but I think I did okay on it if it is all complete as I think. This is the first bear trap that I have ever seen in person so please give me the good and bad on it. I believe it to be the Oneida Community made between 1893-1911. It looks original and complete to me but again I really don't know. The one thing that concerned me a little is there is no marking on the springs that I can see but may be common but again I don't know. I don't see any marking other than the pan but there may be some and I don't know where to look. There is a wall anchor in the jaws on one side that has the jaws help open some. Without a setter I sure can't get it out. Let me know if I need to look or take pictures of anything else on the trap to help you guys look at it. Thank you!

Your trap looks to be all original and complete. Condition is not bad, the spring stamps may just be light, they may show better with some gentle cleaning.

Yep, Nice looking #5 and I think you did good pricewise. Those spring stamps look mighty small on that big of a spring. Some were stamped very lite to begin with and it doesn't take much oxidation to make em disappear. Be sure to check for stamps on the the underside of the spring too....

Super buy on your OC. You did well. Just remember, Trap collecting is not a hobby, "IT's A DISEASE". You will be hooked now.

Thanks for the input guys. When you spend that much money it is reassuring to know that I did good. I guess I will do a little cleaning with WD-40 and a toothbrush to see if I can find some stamping.

Yes I already had the DISEASE on smaller traps. I fellow couldn't afford to get to sick with the price of bear traps.

I thought I would tell a little bit of the story on finding this trap. At the flea market area I look around and if I don't see any traps and it looks like the type of stuff that may have a unseen trap I will usually ask them if they have any traps. It is funny how you can look right over traps setting on a table or sometimes they are hidden in a box of other stuff. Anyway, I asked this one vendor if he had any traps and he said no but the guy next to him had a bear trap earlier that morning. I'm thinking to myself, sure I have heard these bear trap stories before and they are usually a Victor #4 longspring or a mole trap. So I go over to the guy and ask about his "bear trap". He said he has one but changed his mind about selling it and had put it in his van. I asked if I could see it anyway and he said sure. At this point I'm starting to think that he might actually have a bear trap but probably a reproduction but hey if I could get it cheap I would still be interested. On the way to his van he tells me that he was told it is real and not a reproduction and I'm starting to get pretty excited to see it. I asked if it happened to be a Newhouse and he said that it sure was. At this point I'm excited but thinking it is probably a 4 1/2 Wolf trap. I checked it over and it looked pretty nice and complete. I said I know you changed your mind but if you were to sale it what would you have to have and he priced it for $650. I left and told him I would have to think about it. I have pictures of all the Blaise/Parr book regular trap pages on my phone but never did the bear trap pages as what were the odds of ever seeing a bear trap. I did a quick look on e-bay and saw a couple buy it now and staring bids a lot more than $650 so I felt comfortable with the $650 price. I was still a little hesitant about spending that much money but my wife convinced me that I would regret it later if I didn't buy it. I went back and told him I would take it but would have to find an ATM to get that much cash. He was wanting to back out but his wife chimed in and said hey you priced it so you better so ahead and sell it. I found an ATM but the max withdrawal was $200 so I got the max and then my wife had to draw out the max. With the $400 ATM cash we were able to gather the $650 from what we already had and have a little cash remaining for other shopping. The rest is history.

Yah your hooked, now you will have to have every kind of bear trap and all your retirement money will become trap investment money. LOL
My first a community five with trip hammer springs for 500$ from collector in parry sound Ontario twelve years ago. The first of many.

LOM did you get that from Harris buy and sell? If you did I can tell you the farm that that come from.

I may have heard his name mentioned but I don't remember his name.

A friend's father was a trapper and their family farm had a shed full of steel. He said he remembered his grandfather taking him out to get the bear that was getting into the grain shed in the 50s. One of those picker guys come and cleaned him out of all his good stuff.