[Hallicrafters] Re: Investing bust

[kiyoinc at attglobal.net]

chnord at comcast.net wrote:

> Not sure your logic holds here John. The Atwater Kent 10 series, a
> common sight on eBay, generally sell for >$1.3K.  Since is it a 1923
> radio there are not many people from their teens around to buy em.
> Watch an older Grebe in  an auction or just abnout anything pre 1915.
> So it is more then nostalgia driving the prices.

The "nostalgia" effect certainly works in the 20-50 time timeframe but 
after that, and approaching the 75-100 year mark, something else is 
going on.

At the 75 year mark, collectors are acquiring stuff for the price jump 
when the item is officially 100 years old.  Buy it before the price rises.

I have a pal who collects civil war era bottles and drug-store 
paraphernalia, scales, scoops, spoons.  This stuff is essentially 
valueless except that it's approaching 150 years old.

Because it's old and some of it is "civil war", this worthless stuff, 
especially if it has provenance, has become treasures.

A KWM-1, just like the one that rode on the U-2 during the Cold War, is 
a relic of that era.  It's also a hand crafted machine, a pivot device 
in the chain of technology, tubes what are those?

And every Yaesu, Swan, Atlas, Kenwood owes something to it.

Some of value comes from collectors who keep the buzz going, some from 
conventions and so on.  Scarcity, sheer age, and so on.

I don't collect for resale.  I have a few old radios that I clean up and 
use.  My SX-100 is great fun to listen to.  Same with 75S-1.

I don't think of the SX-100 as mediocre.  It sounds a lot like my 
SX-101A and the knobs have the same feel.   I could happily spend my 
"golden years" working CW using the SX-100 and a DX-60 and a vibroplex 
Original.

de ah6gi/4