Got this question from Lydia: “Happy New Year! I am not sure if you can help or not as I am doing some research on a tractor that I inherited from my brother. I am trying to decide what to do with it. It is an International Harvester F856 D, Farmall. It has a Koyker front end loader attached. I already know it needs tires and batteries. Can you tell me what I need to do to find out a fair price for the tractor and front end loader?”
My reply: The Avg. Auction Price on a Farmall/IHC 856 tractor last year was $6,462. Avg. Auction Price 2 year ago: $5,462. The past 5 years the Avg. Auction Price on 856’s has run in the mid $5K to low $6K range. Those figures would be for 856’s without Loader. Generally speaking you can figure approx. $1K for a Loader of that vintage if its in good condition. If very nice original condition or restored then I’ve seen 856’s with no loader sell in the mid $$ teen range.
Here’s a representative 856 in “Fair” condition sold at auction recently…this one on a 9/30/17 consignment auction in east-central New York. It sold for $5,250, here’s a picture of it:
My favorite 856 tractor I’ve ever seen sold at auction was one we filmed for our Machinery Pete TV show on an east-central Illinois farm retirement auction 9/11/16 for 95 year old Dale Fulton. His 856 was beautiful, had only 3,172 actual hours on it. Dale was the 2nd owner, having bought it when it was only 6 mo. old. It sold for a then record high auction sale price of $18,000. Here’s a picture of it:
856’s have held their value very steadily over the years. I checked our auction price data at www.machinerypete.com and found that ten years ago, in 2008, the Avg. Auction Price on 856’s was $5,322 (High $8,200; Low $2,600).
Here’s a link to (4) 856’s for sale today by dealers in Iowa, Ohio, Missouri and Tennessee, click link to view: https://www.machinerypete.com/tractors/40-99-hp/international-harvester/856
