Hacker News Reader

There is no fundamental difference between a very rare old vase, car or game.

Someone living in 1950 would also think is crazy to pay 1 million for a 1940 car.

Someone living in ancient China would also think it's crazy to pay a lot of money for a cooking pot.

People are realizing this, and are basically front-running the market, so the price of future priceless artifacts are rising much sooner.

View on HN

This is the answer I fundamentally agree with on this subject. Super Mario 64 for N64 is a part of humanity's cultural and history, and the supply of similar items will only decrease over time. The expected value is possible for several lifetimes from now though, and most rich families struggle to hold onto it forever.

I agree the software is part of humanity's cultural history but the physical artifact of the cartridge is nearly worthless. We could literally mass produce Mario 64 cartridges to exact specifications if we wanted to. You can buy reproduction carts on the internet, cheap. We can't recreate ancient works of art or antique machinery, those are truly unique, easily but Nintendo cartridges are just chips and plastic.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com