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Comment by ChuckMcM | Hacker News Reader

My Dad collected antique cap guns. By the "collector's bible" its "worth" $40 - $50 grand. He got zero offers for it when it became clear he needed to liquidate some of his "stuff" to pay for health care. So yeah, I don't think my collection of "classic" computers will return anything to my heirs sadly.

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Well, I see classic 1970s-80s computers that I'm interested in selling for hundreds or even thousands of dollars on eBay etc.

Gen-Xers who grew up with them are getting nostalgic, and many of them have a lot of disposable income and plenty of space to house them.

But it is a lot of work to get that kind of money for each individual machine. And I suspect it will be a passing fad. In some decades when the Gen-Xers start to log out, the younger generations will not sustain the same kind of market.

I wonder if anyone is buying them at those prices though.

I collected a few machines when they were either being given away at work or nearly given away on eBay.

Computer prices are a bathtub curve for interesting computers. Very expensive at the start, then they're worthless garbage for 10-40 years, then prices start to rise. If it's not interesting, then they just stay worthless.

Examples:

- Supercomputer parts

- SGI, HP 9000, Sun SPARC machines and parts

- More esoteric UNIX workstations

- PDPs

- VAXen (how many complete cabinet-style VAXen still exist?)

- Apples

- Terminals (since almost all of these were tossed, these are surprisingly expensive even in bad condition)

And probably need to be in pretty mint condition and find the right buyers. Nothing I have is mint and I wouldn't even try to sell it. The minicomputer boards are from a once major minicomputer maker but very few people have probably even heard of them today.

Yes, I have a number of things on the parent list (e.g. UNIX workstations, deskside and rackmount VAXen, terminals) and I can't give them away.

Really? Looking at the asking prices on eBay, a VT100 terminal seems to go for many hundreds of dollars even in poor condition?

You wouldn't happen to have SUN 3 workstations?

VT100 has some demand; not later less iconic terminals. (Personally, I think I still have a few V2xx and a Wyse or two.) Many of these eBay listings are effectively permanent, from commercial resellers who are waiting for the rare case that some business somewhere really wants an exact replacement for an old system component that no one wants to risk changing.

I may still have a Sun 3/60 pizza box (as well as a Sparc or two), and maybe even keyboard and cables (one of the common problems — I've had people excited about a ‘free’ SGI Indy but they come to their senses when they realize it's a blue paperweight without time, money, and luck finding the ancillaries). Fortunately I found takers for my (three!) deskside Sun 3/160s about a decade ago. But even for a single pizza box, shipping has become a killer for non-local transfers (I'm outside US; SW Ontario).

I had not done an eBay search for "sold" items until now, some people seem to be paying high prices for Atari Falcon systems.

I have a SPARC Station 2, Ultra 1, Ultra 2 and a Macintosh Quadra 950 that all work and would maybe have resale value if I wanted to get rid of them.

Like the other poster wrote, it is time dependent.

The stuff that went into dumpsters in the 1990s can sell for thousands today on eBay. But in 30 years, they might be dumpster bound again.

I just double checked to make sure, and an Atari Falcon early 1990s 68030 CPU computer sells for around $3000 today.

The problem is it’s only valuable to those who hold value to it because they grew up with it. Once those collectors get old and start dying off, the bottom falls out of the market because subsequent generations don’t have the same nostalgia. and thus those once valuable collectibles are then basically worthless.

I have first hand experience of this happening too. My dad collected a specific type of model railway. His collection used to be worth thousands but by the time I inherited it all the other collectors were also dead and neither myself nor my brother wanted to maintain the collection. So we sold it for practically nothing.

Dad would be turning in his grave if he knew but frankly, he was the only person who had sentimental value to that collection and we needed the space. It wasn’t even about the money for us, it was literally just multiple boxes of stuff we knew we wouldn’t ever use and didn’t want to keep indefinitely just to honour the memory of dad (we have far better ways to honour his memory).

This isn’t meant to sound insensitive because I loved my dad and still miss him a lot.

I have a large collection of retro gaming consoles and 8 and 16 bit computers. Plus hundreds of games on physical media. I love my collection just like my dad loved his trains. But I know my family will sell it for a pittance the moment I pass away. And I’m fine with that. I own it because it brings me pleasure. I didn’t buy it thinking my family should honour my legacy by hoarding it too.

This is sad because it's true. Thank you for writing this.

I enjoyed stamp collecting as a kid. I inherited a stamp album from a distant relative who I think was a clipper ship captain or something along those lines. Was probably worth some money once upon a time. I should look at it one of these days. I'm sure it (and my own collection) are worth nothing today.

Easy thing to do with Unwanted Stamps is Donate to Oxfam Canada. Address to mail your donation to is at this link: https://www.oxfam.ca/take-action/support-oxfam/stamp-out-pov...

Yeah, I'm really nostalgic for 90s era computer & gaming stuff — turns out, that stuff is pretty expensive right now cause all of us that grew up with it have the disposable income to re-buy it. 30-40 years from now when we're all dying & downsizing? I'm sure that market will crater.

We've seen this play out before. This couple in Wisconsin stocked up on antique phones when the demand was hot in the 1980s, now they are in their 80s and they can't get rid of them:

https://madison.com/news/local/phoneco-wisconsin-telephones-...

They should advertise up here in Canada. Functional rotary phones are selling like hotcakes for $50-80 a pop. Especially original non-standard (not-black) colours.

That's like collector cars that peak in value for the generation after they were made. If it was a poster on your wall growing up, you want it when you are old and wealthy. The generation after is less interested.

With cars specifically it doesn't help that they tend to be a lot less safe to drive the older they are (as health standards have increased a lot over the years), also they just become harder and harder to keep in good shape as the parts become rarer and rarer. Also they had terrible emissions and low gas mileage, so they suck for the environment.

Like I still think some 60s muscle cars look pretty cool, despite being born a couple decades later, but there's no way in hell I'd ever want to own one, for the above reasons. Instead I'll just drive them in video games.

Meanwhile I think it's cool to own a painting brought home from World War II, or a metal cup souvenir from the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.

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