Osborne 1 prices (was: On Generations of People and Computers )

From: Paul E Coad <pcoad_at_crl.com>
Date: Mon Apr 21 20:35:11 1997

On Mon, 21 Apr 1997, Bill Whitson wrote:

> Fun article ;)
>
> I'm just curious - have any of you (with the possible exception of the
> apple I) ever seen anyone selling these models at these prices much less
> purchased one for so much? Do any of these warrant such a price for
> you? $400 for an Apple II? $300 for an Osborne? I bought an Apple II+
> with 3 Disk IIs, color monitor, and box of accessories for $50 -
> in 1988!
>
I've never purchased one for these prices. I've paid less than $200 for
my entire collection (excluding items bought new). I have seen an Apple I
for sale in the San Jose Mercury News for $25,000 (might have been $50,000,
I can't remember for sure, but it was big bucks) IIRC. Someone in one of
the forsale newsgroups was selling a Sun 1 and had offers in the range of
$700-1200. (Of course I found this out after I offered him $50 for it :-().

> I get nervous when journalists start quoting prices on old computers.
> There are still a number of machines I want in my collection - but
> only if I can continue to find them for $5. Maybe I'm just nuts ;).
>

One of the strong points for collecting is that does not have to cost
much to build up a nice collection. At $5 I can justify bringing home
just about anything. At $200+ I better be able to justify the value of
the machine.

One good thing to note, I was in a "real" antique shop this weekend,
and there was not a computer or computer related item in the entire
place. With any luck there will be a few more years before the mainstream
gets ahold of them.

--pec
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Tight-wad computer collector.
Received on Mon Apr 21 1997 - 20:35:11 BST