I need someone to educate me as to why this DEC hardware is worth more than $1K: eBay auction - "DEC PDP-8 paper tape software, books and core memory card" http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320880958746 At first I thought it was a gag, but then I looked at the number of bidders and the amounts.

I know there are a lot of older fellows out there holding on to their PDP and VAX hardware because they are quite fond of it. However, at some point each comes to the conclusion that unless they want to be buried with their computers, the same as the egyptian pharaohs were buried with their gold, they need to find a new home for them. A fellow who was on oxygen and too weak to pick up his computers any longer kindly give me two fully loaded VAXServer 3400's for free. A few years later, from another retired gentleman, I received a VT103 (11/23), VT100, RX02 (dual 8" flop drives), a pair of CDC 9427H "Hawk" drives (which about KILLED me when I lifted each one by myself), dozens of floppies, and a dozen 14" rigid platter disk cartridges. I got all of this for free too. I did pay $100 for a MicroVAX II, with all original tapes and manuals. It has been very educational learning all this old hardware and running the early UNIXes on real hardware (not an emulator). I found all these people and all of this stuff locally on craigslist. So when I see bits of DEC paper tape and core memory going for more than $1000, I am flabbergasted. Completely. Shouldn't this money be staying in your retirement account? (No offense intended). Why is this particular stuff so valuable?