13 Aug
1997
13 Aug
'97
3:48 a.m.
The
'speculators' who are out to try to make a quick buck on these
machines while having no regard for their preservation or history will
only make life much more difficult (and expensive) for those who would
preserve both the machine and its history.
I think that there will always be people around who don't have the "purest"
motives for doing anything, and collecting computers is no exception.
Antique dealers could be considered collectors only in it for the money, BUT
without that force being present, a lot more collectibles would be in that
great landfill in the sky. Another thing to think about is the opportunity that
the speculators
provide. I don't recall the number of museums spread around the world, but
it is at least a dozen or two :). Right now, I am in the learning stages of
finding out what it takes to run a museum and donations seem to be a
biggie. If a non-profit status museum is available, I can't imagine any
speculator trashing something instead of taking a tax rightoff.
Do keep us posted! There are plenty of us on this list who dream of
converting our private collections into musea when we retire - or
before! - who would welcome any info on the subject.
And yes, this type of stuff WILL make it harder for
people to collect
computers. HOWEVER, we are still at the stage where the perceived value of
most older computers is not very high thus making it relatively easy for
anyone who has the desire to get a fairly complete selection of computers
relatively inexpensively. And since we seem to be some of the few concerned
with the preservation of old computers and their history, that leaves us in
a rather responsible position and I think the future will look back kindly
at our efforts!
And however much we dislike the price spirals that occur, we must
remember that unless people know that collectors want these machines,
they'll put them in the dustbin.
That is one reason why, unlike Sam, I do not often haggle. If people
know that the Philips G7000 videopac computer that they priced at four
pounds at the car boot sale will get snapped up for that amount of
money, and tell people at work etc., others will think twice about
throwing out the PDP8 or whatever. If, however, they price it at L4 and
can't even get that for it, they will think that computers are not
collectible. (What is the G7000 anyway? Yes, I did buy it! It has an
8048 as the CPU, of all things!)
> Are *you* prepared to pay $500US for an Osborne
or a TI99-4a ???
No, but I'd rather pay $500 for an Osborne than see the last remaining
one disinegrate between the teeth of a rubbish crusher like that PDP9.