Hi, Randy! I did a double-take when I saw the photos, 'cause they sure looked familiar. Took a couple of seconds for it to sink in - they're the ones rejected by another site because they don't fit into the defined territory covered there. No problem with them here!
Value (pricing) of power drills, especially older ones, seems to be almost by whim. Go on "that well-known on-line auction site", and you may see two of the same model, with one showing a starting bid that's 20 times the starting bid on the other. And the cleaner, better-kept one, with at least a chuck key, but up to and including ones with a full kit of accessories [like yours] may be the more attractively priced one. There was a Model 149 offered for parts recently, with a starting bid of only $5.95 at
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Fairchild-Model-F-149-Corded-Electric-Drill-/181153012295?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a2d8f9a47. It's missing the chuck, and may have other issues.
I think that the biggest reason for such drastic variation, aside from what some vendors are smoking, has to do with the lack of an established market. I have met exactly one other drill collector in person, and know of another in Australia, and one in the Netherlands. There are no periodicals, no reference books, and insufficient history of sales to define a price level. Further, there are so many manufacturers (I know of over 200), and so many models, that it is hard to find a "comparable", as antiques appraisers might say. Condition usually matters, and at least in my mind, presence or absence of a case, accessories, and whether I've seen dozens like it (or HAVE five like it!), or it's one totally new to me, changes my evaluation. In many cases, drills were sold under numerous names, even though identical except for the nameplate. I'd generally go higher for one that was sold as a house brand by a regional department store chain, than for its cousin that was nationally distributed right from the manufacturer. There's a PET (Portable Electric Tools) model with some variation - likely running changes during the production run - that was sold under AT LEAST ten different brand names! I have at least four of the brands of that one - but others must be far less common. Your "Fairchild", by the way, was likely also made by PET.
I have two* power drills within arm's reach at this instant; one identical to the larger one was on eBay a few weeks ago with an S.B. of $149.99; mine has a paper tag asking $8.00, from a flea market where a friend of mine haggled it down to $6 a week or so back (and there was no shipping!). The other came from the same flea market last weekend. It's a near-twin to one offered at a buy-it-now price of $49.95 - but this one's tagged $3.50, and that same friend picked it up for me. Too good a price to bother haggling!
*well, two that I wanted to mention - I can touch at least ten without getting out of my seat.
