Taking control of your collection

From: Sellam Ismail <foo_at_siconic.com>
Date: Tue Feb 5 08:50:38 2002

On Tue, 5 Feb 2002, Loboyko Steve wrote:

> I think that every mature "collectible industry"
> causes specialization amongst collectors. This
> collectible, being immature and very small, hasn't
> forced any specialization yet. But the day may come

That's so not true. In the nearly six years that I've been actively
collecting, I've seen this go from a "grab anything you find cuz it's so
cool" mentality to an obvious gravitation towards specialization. One
collector friend (whom some of you know) was probably the first person I
heard of trying to specialize his collection. He kept trying to
differentiate himself from other coollectors, but it seemed his "space"
kept on getting encroached upon. He went from a rather large collection
of just about everything to only pre-1980's computers to, I think,
CP/M systems only to S-100 bus systems only (something like that) and then
finally settled on analog computers and elements. He got rid of a lot of
what didn't fit that realm. And he's focused on analog exclusively, and
his collection is now amazing. But it's amazing because of the time and
research he puts into it, and the fact that he makes his work available on
the web.

http://dcoward.best.vwh.net/analog/

> when you might want to specialize, and are missing
> some stuff, and someone else wants to specialize in
> something in which you have no interest, and then
> trading is possible. For example, the rarest prototype

That day is now. There are specialists of all kinds on this list. In
fact, this would be a great way to splinter off into another on-topic
discussion (for a change) and let everyone announce what their particular
specialization is. I'm sure more than a couple synergies will evolve.

> Commodore computer in the world purchased for $1.00 at
> Goodwill wouldn't interest me at all - but if I had
> it, I'd sell/trade it in a heartbeat with no regrets
> for other stuff that might be of much less "eBay"
> value. Someone paid me $200 for an unused Intel C8080B
> chip. I spent that money on a broken paper tape punch
> and a tiny motorized DATA I/O paper tape reader(both
> of which I reverse engineered/repaired and am
> extremely happy with). I think I got a good deal, and
> I know he does - in his specialty, he told me that the
> chip was the only gold/ceramic 8080B that anyone had
> ever seen.

Define "anyone". I think I must have at least a handful of those inside
machines in my collection (and they are staying there).

The trend towards specialization has made it easier for spaz's like me who
feel compelled to collect everything. All the cast-offs from those people
shedding what doesn't fit into their specialty usually finds it into my
collection.

But there is a method to my madness ;)

Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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Received on Tue Feb 05 2002 - 08:50:38 GMT

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