29 Oct
2002
29 Oct
'02
12:10 a.m.
On Mon, 28 Oct 2002, John Galt wrote:
Gosh, I'm glad I went ahead and picked up the half dozen 8008s one of my
local parts dealers had. I certainly didn't pay that much for them. Good
thing he doesn't know what they bring on ebay ;) (actually, I doubt he
would care, those chips had been in his inventory for ~20+ years.)
"The same
thing has happened to so many other common computers before.
It is a perceived rarity because many people only collect on auction
sites and are myopic otherwise. Once the auctions get flooded with
the same item, then the "rarity" factor is reduced".
Perhaps... On the other hand, there was a lady that dumped a stash of
about 50 Intel C8008 processors on EBAY about a year ago. For several
months the price being paid for C8008's on EBAY dropped from $150 to
$19.95. Then she finally ran out of them and the price has since slowly
climbed back up and a few weeks ago, an Intel C8008 in "like new"
condition brought about $150. Speaking of chip collecting (which some
here tend to frown on), the general trend of higher prices on EBAY
continues. Perhaps it's just my imagination, but the prices being paid
for Altair 8800's and IMSAI 8080's on EBAY also seem to have bottomed
and are going back up again. I do know that a number of new web sites
dedicated to chip collecting has popped up lately, including one with
nice a forum for buying and trading vintage chips. In fact, a number of auctions for rare vintage chips
ended tonight where
chips brought over $100.
I wonder now if I should go ahead and buy up all the other 808x stuff I
know about?
-Toth