Collectors pay big money for old tech

[COURYHOUSE at aol.com]

Well ...  some things   really are not  more  expensive... the money is  
just  worth  less
back  when I used to buy pdp-8 computers  for 100-200  dollars  ... like   
24+ years ago  cars were a bunch  cheaper  too  by far....
 
There are  some things   that went  crazy  like  the Apple I but there is 
still a lot  of  interesting things around  especially if  you are willing to 
 go out to sales  and scrap  yards etc.
 
Then remember there is the 'art' of anticipating what will be considered a  
classic or totally cool  and  grab some  on the time line   point of  near 
obsolescence  and when others  finally figure out  it is cool...
Two computers come to mind on that   for us  was   Cobalt  cube ( got a 
cobalt  rack  unit to keep it company  too) and a Next  cube system
 
Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org)  
 
 
In a message dated 6/13/2015 12:24:00 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,  
scaron at umich.edu writes:

It's too  bad that I catch myself thinking this so frequently these days,
but "thank  goodness I got mine" ... before the scene blew up... I guess the
good times  of just pulling carloads of cool stuff out of the dumpster for
nothing  couldn't go on forever... I do tend to agree; at least it's  
getting
preserved; but it's a shame if the financial barrier to entry to  the hobby
is keeping potentially interested & enthusiastic people  away... Like you,
I'd rather see someone playing with the machine; taking  it apart; fooling
around; not having it just sit there in a glass case or  being just another
addition to some guy's hoard who just has to have it  all...

Best,

Sean


On Fri, Jun 12, 2015 at 2:48 AM,  Ian S. King <isking at uw.edu> wrote:

> The down side is that  some historically significant artifacts will be
> purchased by rich  twits who will stick them in a closet or a display 
case.
> The up side  is that those same artifacts didn't go to the skip, as they 
did
> all  too often, all too recently.  And history demonstrates that they  
will
> come back out of those closets (or garages, in the case of  vintage
> automobiles and motorcycles) and end up in the hands of  preservationists.
>
> We're seeing a tipping point where at least  some people are beginning to
> see the urgency of preserving our digital  *hardware* legacy, even if 
profit
> is the driver.  As I said, it's  not going into a dumpster....  -- Ian
>
> On Thu, Jun 11,  2015 at 3:24 AM, Kevin Parker <trash80 at internode.on.net>
>  wrote:
>
> > May be of interest to some list members - appeared  in the Sydney 
Morning
> > Herald Digital Life section  yesterday.
> >
> >
> >
> > Unfortunately  I'm not one of the big spenders.
> >
> >
>  >
> > I know the story about the $200,000 Apple has got a fair  airing but 
some
> of
> > the other numbers being quoted here  frighten me.
> >
> >
> >
> >
>  >
>  
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/discarded-apple-i-worth
>  >  -us200000-collectors-pay-big-money-for-old-tech-20150610-ghfmlu.html
>  >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >  ++++++++++
> >
> > Kevin Parker
> >
>  >
> >
> > ++++++++++
> >
> >
>  >
> >
>
>
> --
> Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS,  Ph.D. Candidate
> The Information School  <http://ischool.uw.edu>
>
> Archivist, Voices From the  Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org>
> Value Sensitive  Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org>
>
> University of  Washington
>
> There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go  to China."
>