Practical question on valuation of old systems

Dave McGuire wrote: Myself, I will pay top dollar (if I'm able) in order to get my hands on a machine that I lusted after during my childhood. For example, in my teens, I desperately wanted a Ferguson BigBoard but couldn't afford one. I saw those ads every month in BYTE and just drooled and drooled. Now, I'd just about kill to get one, even though they're really not all THAT rare...I just haven't managed to find one that's available yet. ------------------------ There has long been a theory in book collecting that the best prices and most demand for collectibles is for exactly this reason. Young people grow up, raise a family and mature. Late in life they long for the toys of their youth. They now have the time and money to enjoy those toys. The magic age seems to be 30-45 years from when the item was desired first. In other words, people aged 50-70. Then the market prices slip back to normally, as that generation passes on. The best example I know of this street rods. Go to any custom car show and you will find most of the owners are grey haired and usually affluent. Reliving the joys of their teen years. You can apply the theory to Star Wars figures, books, cars or computers. I invested heavily in certain types of magazines, especally pulps, based on this idea. So far it has paid off handsomely. But in the last ten years the prices have completely tanked. Most of the readers of that era are gone now. And please, I'm not disparaging this yen for the toys of one's youth - I'm probably more guilty than most what with buying Erector and Meccanno sets, science fiction fanzines, and old CDC computers. Billy