Great/Interesting Finds

[VelonicV]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sperry-Univac- ... 4377613988

Apparently has the tall linear versions of ITW Magnetic Valve switches, supposedly super smooth.

According to the seller, these are the last three he has left.

More info: wiki/Sperry_UNIVAC_UDS-2000_2502

[ramnes]

HHKB serial number 000140 with original case

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HHKB-Happy-Hac ... 4267021499

[kelvinhall05]

HHKB serial number 000140 with original case

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HHKB-Happy-Hac ... 4267021499

Banana hhkb

[dcopellino]

HHKB serial number 000140 with original case

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HHKB-Happy-Hac ... 4267021499

Banana hhkb

iam yellow.png (604.59 KiB) Viewed 7399 times

[beepbloop]

New in box M13
https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/99038062

[latemodel24]

shhhhh

[JP!]

FYI, new beamspring price. And no I did not get this one

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-IBM-56 ... SwMoRfIr3m

[ddrfraser1]

FYI, new beamspring price. And no I did not get this one

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-IBM-56 ... SwMoRfIr3m

...wut

[JP!]

...wut

Reminds me of better times when we could find good deals...

[Weezer]

Do you think that the prices as they are will likely hold since there's a limited supply and an always growing amount of collectors or do you think that the high prices on some of these are fad prices and that people will lose interest again as they did in the 90's?

[E3E]

I feel like part of the lack of care came from less awareness, less information about these, and also generational differences. In the 90s, this equipment was becoming useless and getting phased out and there were so many advances going on that I'm sure made it easy to cast the old, dated stuff aside back then. There wasn't a wide community for it and many of these boards would stay unconverted and unusable on modern systems for ages, which put the only ones who actively cared about it all in a small niche.

Though there are and will always be collectors amongst every generation, I feel that younger buyers who have money and are fascinated by this kind of gear they've never been able to experience will search for it, and that stirs competition and demand which ratchets up the prices for particularly rare or sought-after stuff.

I personally don't see the collectors market surges dying down unless there's a huge persistent economic decline again like there was post 2008 recession.

[JP!]

I feel like part of the lack of care came from less awareness, less information about these, and also generational differences. In the 90s, this equipment was becoming useless and getting phased out and there were so many advances going on that I'm sure made it easy to cast the old, dated stuff aside back then. There wasn't a wide community for it and many of these boards would stay unconverted and unusable on modern systems for ages, which put the only ones who actively cared about it all in a small niche.

Though there are and will always be collectors amongst every generation, I feel that younger buyers who have money and are fascinated by this kind of gear they've never been able to experience will search for it, and that stirs competition and demand which ratchets up the prices for particularly rare or sought-after stuff.

I personally don't see the collectors market surges dying down unless there's a huge persistent economic decline again like there was post 2008 recession.

Pretty much this. When I got my first Model F XT from an older coworker he told me that he was glad when keyboards got quieter! I've also acquired items on multiple occasions from the older generation who thought their old electronics had no value. There are a growing number of collectors globally even though this is a very niche hobby. I've seen local items end up in Asia for example.

I've seen lots of collectibles including vintage tech move pretty consistently with prices either holding steady or slightly increasing with limited supply during this pandemic. More people working from home and spending their stimulus or unemployment checks but this easy money won't last. We are in a recession but we might not fully realize the economic effects for months or years down the road. For some people this pain may even be felt for the rest of their lives.

[Weezer]

Yeah...I was thinking similarly which is unfortunate. I was hoping that someone here would tell me that I'm wrong lol. I suppose it's a curse and a blessing since it means as awareness grows, fewer will be trashed. I picked up a keyboard from a very nice fellow yesterday who said that the other people in his office were going to trash it. But then in the same vein he also said he'd received countless messages about it and quizzed me about whether I was going to flip it or split the keyboard up from the rest of the computer, which of course I won't.

I agree on the recession JP!, there's going to be a huge housing crisis soon when the extended unemployment runs out and people still can't go back to work because the places they worked for went belly-up, or are still quarantined because we still do not have the virus under control in the US. Unfortunately I've seen the corporate powers that be use the pandemic as an excuse to further consolidate power by laying off employees at the start of the pandemic and then hiring them back for base wages less than they made before. As for whether this will impact the prices of keyboards, I'm not sure, since many of the collectors seem to work I.T. jobs which pay reasonably well.

[zrrion]

I think the best way to get decent prices is to become friends with other people in the hobby and do trades and the like and to watch for good deals. I've scored some good deals because someone tipped me off to something that I wouldn't have seen myself, and I've gotten other stuff from folks directly before that stuff could even enter the market. Market prices aren't really going to go down unless a lot of the itch that vints scratch are addressed by modern manufacturers. like if ALPS brings back blue alps that are comparable to the old ones then the price of blues would likely drop, but that specific example isn't likely to happen.

At this point I've more or less got all the stuff I want to use, with a few exceptions, and everything for me is either an attempt to help my RSI or out of curiosity. A lot of the stuff I'm curious about is stuff that isn't documented and therefore there's no demand and that helps, but it results in me getting a lot of typewriters, calculators, and numpads that even if they had something cool in them are unlikely to be especially valuable just as a function of not being keyboards.

[Weezer]

That's true. I've been incredibly fortunate to have received the help that I did with acquiring and repairing keyboards. I'm really grateful for that. Having nice keyboards has really changed how I enjoy my job since I have to type 8 hours a day and I no longer go home with my wrists and fingers aching and prickling all over. Cherry's worked okay, but I hated the scratchiness of them, particularly on the clicky variants, so Model F has really been a godsend for me, not to mention they look cool as hell and last forever.

The only other keyboard I'd seriously want outside of a curiosity is the one from the 4978, but I probably have a better chance of landing on the moon than I do finding one.

[dcopellino]

The only other keyboard I'd seriously want outside of a curiosity is the one from the 4978, but I probably have a better chance of landing on the moon than I do finding one.

It's nice to read your thoughts about how you got into this hobby. But I have some doubts on the possibility of using an IBM 4978 keyboard as a daily driver or even for some sporadic uses due to its dated layout without modifier keys or others amenities we are used to. Btw, I'll enjoy and follow with the usual nice mood the tryout clip chyros promised for the next 1st of August.
At least we know where commodore took inspiration for the c64 design.

[juspek]

Nice looking Sony keyboard: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-Monitor-K ... 3669596739
Comes with additional monitor

[ddrfraser1]

Nice looking Sony keyboard: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-Monitor-K ... 3669596739
Comes with additional monitor

Oof, I would get that whole package if it was in the US

[EnthusiastDude]

Nice looking Sony keyboard: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-Monitor-K ... 3669596739
Comes with additional monitor

Oof, I would get that whole package if it was in the US

Any clue for what to expect with this keyboard?
I think I've seen the keycaps before, but I can't remember where

[juspek]

Oof, I would get that whole package if it was in the US

Yeah, too bad it doesn't even ship to EU, only to UK. Like these TI boards are "Endast köpare inom Sverige":https://www.tradera.com/item/340854/410 ... ntbord-2st

[ddrfraser1]

Good price considering the BKE domes and mods. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Topre-Realforc ... %7Ciid%3A1

good price for an M 122 with a square badge.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264813962596?ul_noapp=true

[forter4]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/283963853594?s ... Track=true

This looks exactly like the one that sold a few weeks ago...kinda skeptical

Unless he has a whole storage full of these and takes the pics at very specific angles

[zzxx53]

Industrial M
https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Model-M-/3 ... 0#shpCntId

[kmnov2017]

Industrial M
https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Model-M-/3 ... 0#shpCntId

Unicomp case, so not worth more than 60 IMHO...

[zzxx53]

Unicomp case, so not worth more than 60 IMHO...

Ah - didn't see the swapped case part.
At least the seller bothered to transfer the label to the new case; but agree that definitely not worth $300.

[kmnov2017]

Unicomp case, so not worth more than 60 IMHO...

Ah - didn't see the swapped case part.
At least the seller bothered to transfer the label to the new case; but agree that definitely not worth $300.

What makes you think it's an original label? Anybody can make a label in minutes ...

[JP!]

What makes you think it's an original label? Anybody can make a label in minutes ...

That label looks legit from the printing and the wear. Probably was easily removed with the aid of a heatgun or hair dryer. Besides if you wanted to go through the trouble of making a label at least make one with a desirable part number like a proper Industrial should have.

[ddrfraser1]

Unicomp case, so not worth more than 60 IMHO...

Ah - didn't see the swapped case part.
At least the seller bothered to transfer the label to the new case; but agree that definitely not worth $300.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=23581

[ddrfraser1]

Someone in SC needs to
Pick this up asap

9F62618E-1B91-4047-AEC0-493233864B2E.png (2.03 MiB) Viewed 7616 times

[latemodel24]

Thats been up for a few weeks. Its a pretty good deal on a m122