Price guide for vintage computers

From: Gary Hildebrand <ghldbrd_at_ccp.com>
Date: Fri Oct 26 11:33:52 2001

Would be nice, but since we do live in a throwaway soceity, I don't
think there would be that much interest, considering most people look
down their noses at Amiga's, cp/m machines, and any of the old 8 bit
classics.

Maybe on the order of the Catalog of American Cars published by Old
Cars/Kruse. I'd like one just as a cruise down memory lane, when
computers were expensive, and the OS's were a challenge, not a mass of
newly invented bugs. Sorry, Billy . . .


Gary Hildebrand


Glen Goodwin wrote:
>
> > >Luckily, some manner of salvation is on its way in the form of a price
> > >guide. No, I'm not writing it, but the person who is will make it known
> > >very soon.
> >
> > Maybe it will make some money for the author, but prices are just too
> > variable and too fast changing for a printed guide to be of much
> practical
> > use. What I would rather see is a hunters handbook, say 125 pages with
> the
> > top 500 things to look for, each item getting an average of a 1/4 page
> for
> > a photo, or maybe a shared photo, with a description and price range.
> Sell
> > one to every scrapper in the world, and those 500 things become a LOT
> more
> > available.
> >
> > working title, "How much money did you throw away today?"
>
> In any hobby, a price guide is both a blessing and a curse. When I owned a
> sports card shop I became aware of the potential effects of price fixing
> and other forms of market manipulation. Specifically, if the publisher of
> a price guide had a bunch of Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax cards to dump,
> those players would book high until he dumped his cards. Additionally,
> advertiser pressure influenced prices listed in these books.
>
> For vintage computers, a price guide published 2-4 times yearly, listing
> maybe 500 computers, might work. It could be advantageous to only include
> photos for 50 of these computers in each issue, rotating through all 500.
> This would encourage people to buy the next issue, with photos of 50
> *different* machines.
>
> We have Ebay now, and other auction sites, from which to draw data. The
> publication might also consider any documentable, verifiable report from
> private buyers and sellers when compiling the price guide.
>
> And since when can your average scrapper read, anyway?
>
> Just my two cents . . .
>
> Glen
> 0/0
Received on Fri Oct 26 2001 - 11:33:52 BST