Unused Collections

Ensor wrote: Yeah, that's about the size of it for me, too. My main interests these days are: 1) Collecting prototype machines, or things which saw production runs in the tens, 2) Collecting systems containing software which never got released to the world. 3) Collecting basket-case machines purely for restoration. 4) Collecting unusual or uncommon peripherals, boards etc. for more common systems. I like the 'detective' side of the hobby I suppose, and in trying to put together bits of a jigsaw puzzle and come up with conclusions which would otherwise have been lost in the mists of time. Messing around with some high production volume system is always of less interest though, and I figure if it's something that's common I could just pick one up any time I wanted. Often the hardware I've got is incomplete or buggy, or never really had any kind of code written for it, so there's no way of really "using" the machines I have anyway. So yes, I've got lots of stuff and most of it's "unused". But it still carries some importance to me personally - which I suspect is what drives most collectors. What might seem like junk to one person is in some way special for the collector, making them reluctant to part with it even if it doesn't get used. Never underestimate the power of the "I'll never get another one of those" mentality :-) cheers Jules