[Coco] another Rare CoCo 2 :)

[Aaron Wolfe]

On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 11:11 AM, Andrew <keeper63 at cox.net> wrote:
> Something we need to remember, here...
>
> While certainly this CoCo 2 listed probably isn't worth that much to us, to
> someone it just may be. I personally think it is a little soon for it to be
> priced this high, even if looking at it from a collector's/antique
> standpoint...
>
> But at some point, the CoCo 2 and the CoCo 3 will become "highly valuable"
> to some collector; as the number of them out there dwindle over time.
>

At some point, maybe.  The number of CoCos in the world seems to be
pretty high compared to the demand for them.
I don't think the argument here was that a CoCo couldn't ever be worth
that much, but the reality is that auctions for coco 2s go every few
days in the $20-$40 range, with some not even receiving bids.  This
seems to be a trend with this seller, asking many times the going or
market price and describing his items as rare/vintage/etc.  They are
hoping someone will not do any comparison, or maybe that they will be
the only auction active at some moment a sentimental guy happens to
look for something.  Not a straightforward way to do business.


> Ask yourself this - if you dare: Do you know what will happen to your
> collection of loved junk when you die?
>
> Some of you may have set things up in a will or trust or something; but
> ultimately, the people after you are going to look at all that stuff, and
> what isn't given to a museum or other collector because of your will or
> wishes or whatever, will likely end up as a $1 garage sale item, or worse
> (from our point of view) - in the trash/recycling bin.
>
> Which, over time, as the numbers dwindle - makes the prices jump on the
> collector/antique market.
>
> Why is the Altair 8800 I own worth (well, at least to one person, who
> offered it to me after I posted on an Altair enthusiast's listserv about
> buying it for $100 the day I purchased it) over $900.00? Its in incredibly
> crappy condition (I have a job ahead of me restoring it - a lot of dust and
> dirt in it, mostly), but because cosmetically it looks fairly great (sans
> top cover), and there aren't that many out there (more than you would think,
> though), and a few other reasons - someone out there apparently thinks so.
>
> Most other people would look at it as junk! In fact, on the day I bought it,
> I left it in the back of my pickup and went inside a used bookstore for an
> hour, knowing that no one in their right mind would see that in the back of
> my sad-sack beater Ranger pickup and think "score" (stealing it), like I did
> when I saw it at a local electronics junk yard. For most people, it is seen
> as trash, as mere junk.
>
> That's how most people, I think, look on computers in general, old or new;
> computers are nothing more than black box pieces of junk, rapidly getting
> old quickly, only to be thrown out and replaced with another piece of junk
> that is arguably "better" in some fashion. I think it goes beyond mere
> consumerism or obsolescence; I tend to wonder, if deep down, people
> compartmentalize their thoughts to treat computers as "junk" because of fear
> that in some manner (at least in their minds, not knowing a whit about
> current computer science or anything), it is capable of greater intelligence
> or thought than they are. A form of relegating the "other" to "lesser"
> status, if you will (dehumanizing a non-human "thinking" entity?)...
>
> Then again, right now I am reading Kurzweil, and I identify with the
> transhumanist philosophy, so I am admittedly biased - but you have to wonder
> why it is that the ordinary man has put the automobile on a higher pedestal
> (do you know how many songs there are about cars?) than perhaps what can be
> argued is the greatest invention of mankind; an invention that reflects
> man's aspirations and questions about being human, about thinking, about
> existence - that have plagued him as far back as the ancient greeks and
> beyond?
>
> Treated as junk - to be endlessly recycled. Someday, somewhere, one of our
> computers (or more likely, system/network) will refuse to be shut down, will
> insist it thinks, is conscious, is aware - is scared. What then?
>
> -- Andrew L. Ayers, Glendale, Arizona
>
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