26 Oct
1998
26 Oct
'98
5:54 a.m.
>As long as there are people willing to shell out
the bucks for the item
>they "demand" there will be someone else there to "supply."
Correct, in the USA the 'worth' of something
is what some buyer somewhere
will pay for it, assuming you can notify said buyer that it is available
for sale. What's it worth to me to buy a poorly made bean bag animal? Not
even a dollar, but said animals sell at auction regularly for over $50 each.
Short note - there's a quote in Germany:
Jeden Tag steht ein Dummer auf, Du musst ihn nur finden.
Literaly: Every day a dump person gets up, you just have to find him.
Hans made some comments on 'rare' versus
'desirable' too. The fact is that
'desirable' often translates to those items that were perceived as being
significant in the history of the discipline in question. The Intellec
isn't percieved as being as historically significant as the Altair, hence
the price difference. The Apple 1 is seen as being the birth of a company
that is still significant today, VIC20's are seen less so. TRS-80's are
often seen as the first 'computer for the masses' (even though I would
argue the Apple ][ fit that role as well).
Same with me. I realy would like ti get the Intellec, especialy
see him running, but Jim has a price in mind, witch is (maybe cut
by half) possible to get via eBay, but way out of my reach. The
sad thing is that the buyer might only want parts for display,
("look what a nice old machine I have there in my hall" - "Oh,
"what is is?" - "Just read, ts written there: Intellec" - "God
help, how could they compute with only some lamps and switches?")
and will eventualy take the whole configuration apart.
The education process will happen, and probably
several people on this list
are in a position to write the books that appraisers and future shoppers
will live by. Consider the person who is born today, and will be in their
30's in 2033. They get the urge to collect 'historical pre-millenium
computers.' and they will need help. They didn't "live the revolution"
as
many of us have, so we have yet another chance to influence things in a
positive way.
How could you just sound so positiv ? :)
Gruss
H.
P.S.: I orderes a nice acrylic case this morning.
--
Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK