16 Jul
2005
16 Jul
'05
6:49 p.m.
'Computer Collector Newsletter' wrote:
Hit 'send' in the middle of cutting and
pasting, sorry....
That's ridiculous! Sellam is not crying that he couldn't afford to win one
or two specific auctions because of Dennis K(full surname unknown). Some
people may not like Sellam's word choice, but he's speaking up in defense of
all of us. He is pointing out that our hobby suddenly has this guy who is
being an irresponsible renegade. Say, for example, that some rich person
heard a small part of the NPR story, or quickly scanned an article about
that Christie's auction, and decided in his own mind that, "Oh, old
computers are collectible and worth lots of money, I should invest in
some"... so the guy jumps out there, anonymously, and starts hoarding every
C64 and TRS-80 he can find for $500... would that be good for the hobby?
Would you be happy, James, because it ups the value of your C64 or TRS-80
from $20 to $500? Or would you be ticked because some idiot who didn't do
his homework is crashing the entire market for those machines?
That's just hypothetical; I'm sure we all strongly hope that Dennis K. turns
out to be responsible in the end, since according to Bill Maddox, he was
formerly associated with the Boston Computer Museum.
Attention, Vince (vrs at msn.com) -- you're the only person on cctalk who said
you directly know who Dennis K. is. If you can't reveal his surname or
approximate location, then what can you share about his ethics, hobby
awareness, and intentions? If the mysterious Dennis K. is a good, aware,
well-intended collectors, then someone who knows his firsthand should come
to his defense, too.
- Evan
Actually I wouldn't care if the cost jumped suddenly. I over paid for
lot of my items. Example: I paid over $1100 for my dual 133 BeBox. I
bought it during the "dot comm" era and a lot of people (including
myself) with too much money were buying toys. Do I care that I can only
get half of my money back? No, it's not for sale at any price. I paid
twice as much as current value for my Turbo Dimension NeXT cube. Same
result as the BeBox. I really don't care. I like them, I wanted them
and I'm still satisfied with my items and my purchases. So they are
still worth the original cost to me? Yes, they are. Eventually they
will be worth as much as I paid or more. I probably won't sell then
either. Would I stop collecting if the price suddenly jumped?
Probably. I would slow down my purchasing but that's the only result.
Who knows I might take advantage of the new value of my collection and
make some money for a change.
I'm sorry if the tone of my original message was misunderstood by some.
I'm not cutting Sellam or anyone else down, just pointing out the world
market place will determine price, individuals always determine the
ultimate value of things for themselves.
James
--
www.blackcube.org The Texas State Home for Wayward and Orphaned Computers