22 Aug
2012
22 Aug
'12
10:19 p.m.
On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 6:55 PM, jim s <jws at jwsss.com> wrote:
A fellow has a Kaypro II here he wants an offer on.
There are manuals and a
modem, cables, works, floppies and high expectations.
Any idea what to offer him?
I see numbers from 50 to 600 on epay, but figure this is a the low end.
He was asking 400, and is possibly the first owner. If I find out it is an
estate sell out I can probably handle it, but if it is an original owner, I
figure i should have a good idea what to offer with some backing.
Looking at "completed" epay sales Kaypro IIs are selling for about $60
with Software or free shipping. Non running ones as low as $1. I
always search "completed" sales to see what things are actually
bringing. I ignore asking prices.
$40 would be high for me and I would want to check that both drives
worked, that it had its original keyboard cable and that all the keys
worked on the keyboard...not to mention the crt worked OK and
displayed correctly.
A full set of SW (original disks - readable) is worth about $20, Boxed
manuals, $5 to $10 each, software pamphlets $2 each, The modem $5. All
my opinions. Generally I would want to pay less than what I quoted
unless the condition was excellent.
If it has special ROMs that would add something depending on the ROMs.
Personally I prefer the Kaypro 10 with the Hard drive, they go for
more. Kaypro 4s usually go for less.
There are several models of Kaypro IIs (can be identified by case
color many times) and the earliest is probably the most valuable to
collectors.
I like Kaypros, a great reliable CPM computer mostly used as a word
processor. I know of several books written on them in their day. I
have a couple of Kaypro IIs. Sold my Kaypro 10 to another collector
years ago and wish I hadn't.
I think it was the Xerox 820 that was based on the Bigboard. I have
one of those too.
Paxton
--
Paxton Hoag
Astoria, OR
USA