Gold price was: Re: ebay feedback - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

5 Dec 1999

-----Original Message-----
From: Christian Fandt &lt;cfandt(a)netsync.net&gt;
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
&lt;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&gt;
Date: Sunday, December 05, 1999 9:07 PM
Subject: Gold price was: Re: ebay feedback

...
 Upon the date 01:07 PM 12/5/99 -0500, John B said
something like:

-----Original Message-----
From: Innfogra(a)aol.com &lt;Innfogra(a)aol.com&gt; 
   -- snip --
>>I don't think any IBM 1130 is worth more than a couple of hundred in
scrap
...
 >by
>>the way. I suspect less than that.
>>
>
>Then I guess the scrappers will be outbidding you..... The larger 1960 mini
...
 >computers had a lot more gold in them than the
'70s models as the gold was
>plated thicker in the '60s. The 1130 (from what I can remember) has more
>than $100US in aluminum in it (just cpu + printer). I don't know what the
>gold content is.. (I'll find out.. I know a company that does).. BTW I just
...

Gold was a lot cheaper per ounce back in those days compared to now even
when considering inflation. US$35 an ounce I think I recall in the late
60's/early 70's before it really shot up in price. Was up to US$700 or so
for a short time a couple of decades ago. Around US$300 per ounce now I
think. So it would be probable to find connectors, circuit card
connections, etc. with a heavier layer of gold on a 60's-vintage machine
like the 1130. Also, there was a whole *heap* more connections in such a
machine vs. the highly integrated mainframes/minis of rather recent times.
This gives a better perspective of what those scrappers will pay for a
machine. But $4K for an 1130 as John reported hearing still seems high.
Other really precious metals inside of it? Platinum? Goo-gobs of silver (at
about US$3 an ounce)? 
I thought he was out of his tree when he told me what he was paying for the
mainframes. I didn't believe it until I saw a fax on a piece of equipment in
the warehouse which showed he bid $8000 on an IBM 30 series mainframe (water
cooled) THAT WAS ONLY THE CPU!. He had other bids on the other parts. He
looks at each piece, puts a price on it and then totals it on the bottom. I
believe he said the Hitachi supers used Platinum [not sure, he did mention
one metal other than silver or gold).

BTW: The sick &*^*&*(^ offered to buy the two Fujitsus I have coming in for
a decent $$$ due to gold content. He also asked me if I was interested in
selling any of my 1960's minis for gold as well. As I will probably be
sending the Vax 6000 I get to him (hey! I can't pull minis out of him
without sending some...), I will ask him to quote me on:

Fujitsu Super computer (I'll list the items as I saw them on his fax).
The Vax 6000/610 with drives, etc...
An IBM360
and a PDP-8/S

I want to know what kind of $$$ he is actually going to offer. I do get a
lot of sites willing to accept $1-3K for *many systems* but I hate to
compete with this kind of company without knowing what I should be offering.

...

>lost an IBM 360 to a gold scrapper [bid more than me]. Some of the metal
>scrappers I know never bothered to look at gold content.. what's scaring
the
...
  hell out of me
are these guys that know to the penny what they can extract
out of it and generally bid a lot higher than most. 
Sounds like they have a network or something in which they describe (or
boast about) what they've salvaged.

This guy did 13 million pounds last year. I am sure he knows how much $$$ in
metal is in ever mini/mainframe/super computer on the planet.. He even knows
the contents for Apple IIcs [don't laugh.. he had a skid full of them] and
IBM PS/2 XXX series.

john
http://www.pdp8.com/

...
 Regards,  Chris
-- --
Christian Fandt,         Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY  USA      cfandt(a)netsync.net
        Member of Antique Wireless Association
        URL: http://www.antiquewireless.org/