Nice pair of 12 inch Wiss shears on eBay.

[hutch--]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-WISS-INLAID-12-INCH-HEAVY-DUTY-TAILOR-SHEARS-/201745528716?hash=item2ef8f8778c:g:jawAAOSw2xRYS94b

These look like a pair made in the late 1950s to early 1960s. Excellent hinge and plenty of blade on them. From the engraving on the blades they look like they have come from a technical college.

[Henry Hall]

They went for just $50.

[Schneiderfrei]

The extra shipping is the killer.  I am very happy with my recent purchase of a 12 inch set for $13.  but the shipping and exchange rate made it a $60 outlay in Australian dollars.

[hutch--]

There is a good chance that these have gone to someone who will actually use them as they are not old enough to be collectors items and not pretty enough to be decorations. You are right about the shipping costs, I bought a nice pair of 13 inch Wiss shears from the daughter of a guy who was a collector and as she was not an experienced eBay vendor, she shoved it into the most expensive possible shipping and it cost over $60 USD some years ago.

The one that annoyed me the most was a pair I bought for a young tailor from this numbskull in Arizona. I asked him to try and keep the shipping costs down because they were for a young tailor so he tried to cancel the order. I unplugged that through eBay and had to give him instructions to send it to a re-shipping agent in Oregon but with the double handling and extra delay it still saved about $20 USD than what he had in mind.

At the other end I bought a pair of 14 inch Heinisch shears from a guy in Los Angeles so he tricked it into a padded bag and the total shipping was about $20 USD.

[Schneiderfrei]

Shipping from the US is a very vexed problem.  There are so many US vendors who gouge through the shipping that I am quite reluctant to even look there, especially for books.