Oldest serial number (was: Oldest machine (was: Re: Good haul of old pc stuph))

No, you will still miss lots of holes, simply because you just will not have a large enough sample. A database has helped with research like this (or for just plain fun, as mentioned before) - just the results should not be taken too seriously. There is a database of surviving DEC 36 bitters out there on the web. One problem is that often people with machines do not want it known, in some shape or form, and this throws ofdf the sample. I think that list has a few entries with deleted serials. I once did get a good sample for doing such a thing - they were radio control boxes for a 1930s bomber. I figure I had something like four or five percent of the entire production run, which is a very large sample. I found that there were big holes, some parts with nice even distributions, and even a repeat serial number. What I learned from this is that it is hard to learn anything from this. William Donzelli aw288 at osfn.org