I'm not suprised at the AR comments. My brother is a master craftsman. He
restores antique furniture for a living and has done so for the Royal
Ontario Museum. He has, on occasion, and for his own amusement, mad e
copies of rare antique pieces and shown them to the experts, sometimes side
by side with the originals. The experts are often wrong in chosing which is
the copy. I wonder how long before fake old computers start to appear? I'm
very proud of him in that he is totally self taught and that he would never
profit from the fakes.
colan
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-----Original Message-----
From: Philip.Belben_at_pgen.com <Philip.Belben_at_pgen.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, August 23, 1999 1:08 PM
Subject: Antiques Roadshow (was: Re: Re. imsai 2)
>
>
>
>> At 10:39 AM 8/22/99 -0400, Bill Sudbrink wrote:
>>>
>>>"Gee, that's too bad. If you hadn't rewound the transformer on that
>>>IMSAI, it would be worth $50,000. But since it works, it's only
>>>worth $25. Remember folks, never fix anything. The original non-working
>>>lump of metal is worth far more than a machine that does what it was
>>>actually designed to do."
>>
>> I guess you don't watch the Antiques Roadshow very often. They routinely
>> dash people's hopes by saying "Gee, if back in 1950 you hadn't refinished
>> this 1820 chest of drawers, it would be worth $25,000. But now it's
>> worth $250."
>>
>> It all comes down to each person's perception of value. And of course,
>> the sale price is ultimately determined one buyer and one seller.
>>
>> - John
>>
>> P.S. For the non-USAians, "Antiques Roadshow" is a television program
>> on the public television network. It travels from city to city, opening
>> up a convention hall to the public to bring in their antiques for free
>> appraisal by their teams of expert auctioneers and collectors.
>
>
>We have a similar show in the UK, also called Antiques Roadshow. One of
the few
>TV shows I actually enjoy watching. Alas I was away when it came to
Coalville,
>so I couldn't take any classic computers to see how they reacted...
>
>I'm not sure of the accuracy of some of their comments though. Examples
from
>when my parents caught it at their town (and got on TV!):
>
>1. My mother took some WW2 propaganda posters. Was told they were almost
>worthless. Later on, an official came up to her and said they wanted to
film
>the posters. So they went through the same rigmarole again. But on camera
she
>was told they were worth at least 100 pounds (I can't remember whether each
or
>for the set)
>
>2. My parents also invited them to look at some antique furniture in situ.
One
>writing desk they were particularly interested in, shipped it to the
filming
>venue, etc. They pointed out all the things to look for, and claimed that
the
>evidence proved it was original and had never been restored. My father
forebore
>to say that it had come back from the restorer's workshop only 2 months
earlier
>- and we'd all seen the state it was in before it went...
>
>(We think they must have lost a lot of footage that day. A lot of
interesting
>things they filmed weren't shown, and they filled up time with pointless
>activities that had little bearing on the antiques...)
>
>Philip.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Received on Mon Aug 23 1999 - 12:30:49 BST