24 Jan
1999
24 Jan
'99
6:23 a.m.
On Sun, 24 Jan 1999, Bill Yakowenko wrote:
I don't believe it. *THIS*, coming from the same
guy that blew
his stack over his secret bargain bid getting exposed? Which do
you want, well-known (and high) dollar-tags attached to everything,
or obscurity and bargains? You can't have both.
My stack was blown about a random unpredicatable spotlight being shown in
some dark corner. Having a "field guide" that raises awareness in general
is more like increasing the intensity of a nice even predictable light.
There will still be bargains to be found, but the entire "game" will be
raised up a notch.
Besides, you know how these books work, right? You assign an absurdly
high value to the machines you already own, and an absurdly low value (or
no mention at all) of the machines you have yet to acquire :-)
We have a choice between an entrenched mainstream
collector's
marketplace, with standard price guides, and with all the neat stuff
ending up in investors' display cases, off-limits to mere hobbyists;
or an unrecognized garage-sale niche marketplace, with dispute as
to the value of anything, but with many of these machines clanking
away in our basements.
It seems we have no real choice about it, we will eventually end up
with the former. But there is no need to hurry it. Especially if
you are one to bitch when one of your bargain-basement bids get
exposed and immediately out-bid.
If you know that something is inevitable, the only question left is how to
take advantage of it. If you're the one to publish such a guide, then you
write the rules.
Also, don't forget that there already is a price guide out there --
Haddock's "Collector's Guide", but it's terrible as a price guide,
and
lacking in detail and completeness.
-- Doug