collectors vs. enthusiasts

From: daniel <daniel_at_internet.look.ca>
Date: Wed Oct 13 22:21:58 1999

-----Original Message-----
From: Marvin <marvin_at_rain.org>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, October 13, 1999 11:02 PM
Subject: Re: collectors vs. enthusiasts


>
>
>Tony Duell wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > > > It's crazy. I can't believe what they are paying on EBay for less
>> > > > than *incomplete* systems. I could see $1400 with drives, running,
>> > > > tested, manuals, etc... but a shell??????
>> > >
>> > > <rant>
>> > > That's because eBay is where "collectors" hang out. Not people like
>> > > us, for whom collector is an insufficient/inaccurate term.
>> >
>> > Whereas I agree that there is a differentiation between the
>> > "collector" and the "enthusiast", I must take umbrage to the ,again,
>> > generalization of the person who pays "too much" on ebay
>> > automatically being "collector assholes, just because he had deep
>> > pockets".
>>
>> My main objection to e-bay (and to most other forms of selling,
>> actually), is that I don't know who the item is going to be sold to.
>
>The same could be said about newcomers to this list, and just about anyone
I
>don't know. This is something only time will correct. The same goes on
ebay.
>After a while, you see a lot of the same people bidding on stuff. The other
>not so minor detail is that people that pay for this stuff will probably
not
>send it to that junkyard in the sky.
>

Collecting computers is in it's infancy (for the general population). I
don't think owning an old mini with front panel switches will ever go out of
style. Stamps first, then cars, now computers....

I don't see these EBayers leaving anytime soon. Just look at the other
items... IE: Monopoly games. A 1933 board game fetched $30-40 last year,
this year it's over a $100. As more people get online there will be more of
that *one* person that just HAS to have the item on the auction block.

and for computers... how many Silicon Valley Execs are retiring this year???
Received on Wed Oct 13 1999 - 22:21:58 BST