Classic equipment available & my bad year.

[Marvin Johnston]

Dave, sorry to hear about your situation.

Regarding system/parts/etc. selling prices, I use something called 
TeraPeak. It is available on a subscription basis with the downside that 
it is now part of Ebay... I quit them in 2015 with no current plans of 
ever having anything to do with them, but is still the best way I've 
found to get pricing on what sells and how much. It normally has the 
actual selling price as opposed to the "asking" price on the main 
listing. Because the prices on TeraPeak are the actual selling prices 
inflated by the eBay fees and "free" shipping, I generally reduce them 
by around 20% - 30% to get realistic pricing (rare items excepted.)

Another what appears to be similar service is Worthpoint. Although I've 
looked at it, I have never actually used it.

Like you, I had plans of starting a museum and thus have stuff that I 
haven't been able to find pricing information using either TeraPeak or 
Google. That would include rare terminals (i.e. Hazeltone, ),  some 
computers (Philips word processors, Wang, etc.), documentation (IBM, 
Burroughs, a variety of printers, etc.) and a lot of other "stuff" 
(including some of the stuff you have listed.) How many people have 
heard of DMA Systems?

Since I live in Santa Barbara where a number of computer, software, 
peripheral were made, I decided to keep anything made in the Santa 
Barbara and still have plans for a museum dedicated to what was made 
here. That is something you might find possible in your area.

Another thing I'm "collecting" is anecdotes about computer collecting in 
the Santa Barbara area. Two examples are where how the name Pickles and 
Trout came about, and Lobo drives being named after Roger Billings 
(formerly Production manager at Polymorphic) pet wolf, etc.

You might also consider writing a book documenting some of the knowledge 
you acquired about computers, etc.

In any case, it sounds like you are well on your way to recovery. So my 
best to you and your family during this recovery period!

Marvin


> Thanks to everyone for the kind words on my situation.
> 
> Had lots of correspondence from various people interested in
> certain systems, but no offers, and very little information on
> what people think they are worth. Many of these systems are
> very old, very rare and nearly impossible to acquire. As I am no
> longer working I want to maximize what I receive from them.
> I will be researching this over the next year and will add prices
> if/when I work them out. If price is unknown I will take the highest
> reasonable offer, so I cannot offer systems now without an idea
> of what they are worth to you.