Are these really worth keeping?

From: Jeff Kaneko <Jeff.Kaneko_at_ifrsys.com>
Date: Fri Sep 26 10:24:53 1997

Uncle Roger Wrote:

> At 03:17 PM 9/24/97 -0600, you wrote:
> >lifetime! Once it gets to this point, it will cease to be a 'fun'
> >hobby, and will turn into a commercialized, over-marketed
> >'investment vehicle'. Coin & Stamp collecting, Baseball cards, and
>
> Not all coin collecting is like that. Certainly, modern US (with the
> grading services and all) is like that, but there are still many areas of
> numismatics that are still open to hobbiests. Large cents, Fugio Cents (my
                                                 ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^
> personal favorite), colonials, canadian, a lot of foreign, tokens, and so on
                      ^^^^^^^^^
> still offer lots of opportunity for learning, research, and fun, without
> being so sanitary and heartless as a lot of such hobbies.
>
> Important note: Buy the book before you buy the coin. Know what you are
> doing, or you *will* get burned. (There's a company ala QVC that sells
> coins on TV at night -- Things like 3 Susan B. Anthony dollars for $10, when
> you can go to the post office and get the exact same thing for $3.)
>
> I think that even if the collecting of original PC's and Imsai's and such
> becomes too mainstream, there will still be plenty for the rest of us.
>

Whoa! Yer talkin' about some high-dollar items there, guy! But really
the point I was trying to make is that 'Vintage Computing' still
belongs to 'us', the hobbyists. I've seen supplies dry up, prices go
up, and overall enjoyment factor go down when a hobby officially
becomes 'a business'. For me, the real draw of 'Vintage Computing'
is that you can get alot of really cool, historic stuff for next to
nothing (Apple I prices notwithstanding, of course ;-).

Last time I priced a Fugio (a fave of mine as well), they seemed
expensive to me. More than I could spend on just a 'hobby'.
That's was about when I called it quits in 1978. The 'hobby' had
become a bit rich for my blood, with even 'common' issues overpriced.

I just don't want Marketing and commercialization to ruin yet another
hobby . . .

 
Jeff
Received on Fri Sep 26 1997 - 10:24:53 BST