[Boatanchors] INFLATION

[Carl Huether]

Now you've hit the nail right on the head here, Duane. This is what I see as
the
only true potential problem with a high selling price on an item,
particularly so
visibly. For many years collectors have bought automobiles and any other
number of
things and been willing to pay a high price. Most of the time this takes
place in
private with little or no fanfare (like the KW-1 bought by a fellow in Japan
for
$46K+ and air freighted over), so it has little if any impact on the rest of
the
market. When you have high visibility like a public auction, then it
suddenly
changes. The recent Barrett/Jackson auto auction in AZ is a good example as
it is
considered as the benchmark for prices the remainder of the year.
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Using Barret Jackson is a rather poor choice of analogies Todd. The same
would go with Pebble Beach or any of the invitation only top echelon
auctions that cater to the celebrity crowd.
BTW, Kruse has bought themselves back from EBay and will be an independent
auction house again.

Old car collectors and insurance companies already have a guideline to go
by. It is called "The Old Car Price Guide" and is a monthly publication
covering from pristine show condition down to a hulk parts car.

Would that ever happen with electronics collectibles? Not from what I see
across the Internet. so far. And its really sort of funny and sad at the
same time. We have these various ham type forums mainly composed of the
biggest cheapskates in the universe whining and fussing while the rest of
the world passes them by.
I, you, me, us...take your pick here, are totally irrelevant as far as the
market is concerned. It is time to face reality.

I belong to a forum with over 2700 members dedicated to "traditional" hot
rods and customs. It is a world wide group and we pride ourselves on doing
things "the old way". Scrounging parts, making our own, paint be damned if
it cant meet the budget, etc. Some guys have actually put a 20's or 30's
bodied rod on the road for as little as $1500 or built a 50's theme custom
for $3000.
But we are completely irrelevant to the Street Rod and show car custom
market where spending up to 1.5 MILLION dollars has been done recently to
win the Ridler Award. An entry level Street Rod these days, built in a shop
for a checkbook rodder is around $50K. And its not even real; fiberglass
bodies, custom frames, billet everything and the like are enough to make me
puke.

My boatanchor attitude is similar. I have never owned one defined as a
perfect restoration and I dont intend to waste my energy trying now.
My goal is to restore electrically and even add some "improvements" to make
actually USING them enjoyable.
Will my R390A's ever get a  panels or cabinets....not while I own them. All
my other gear gets the same treatment.

BUT, if some big bucks type wants to offer me 10 large for my SX88 then I
would certainly be highly tempted. Any one else would also since it is not a
spectacular radio. In fact, and this will certainly slam some cheeks
together, Hallicrafters never built a spectacular radio.
Why some of the junk they built gets such high prices on EBay escapes me.
But the same can be said about old Fords.

Rant over; its been a long day.

Carl



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