[Milsurplus] Dayton

[Mike Morrow]

Jim wrote:

>I started collecting as the price of military equipment was next
> to nothing.  $40 R-390As...

When was that?  I've been following the surplus scene since the mid-1960s.  In the 1950s, R-390s were rare and very expensive current state of the art items.  By the mid-1960s R-390s still weren't all that out-of-date, and non-junkers sold for far far more than they do today, taking into account inflation  Prices of one thousand 1968 dollars (equal to more than $5000 today) weren't unusual.  By the mid-1970s, $400 was not uncommon for a decent R-390 (equal to about $1400 today).

As far as I can tell from my 40 years in this hobby, prices (adjusted for inflation) for R-390s are at historical lows right now.

Same thing applies to stuff like the BC-348.  I remember 40 years ago Fair Radio sold BC-348s for about $70.  Today it's not too hard to find complete BC-348s for about $300.   That equates to less than $50 in 1965 dollars.  

In 1946, NIB BC-375s could be bought for $50.  Give-a-way???  Nope, very expensive, for $50 in 1946 is equal to $500 today.

Whenever we lament the prices in our 40 to 60-year old surplus catalogs and ads, run those prices you see against the government's inflation calculator at http://www.bls.gov/cpi/home.htm .  Many things are cheaper than they've ever been, when you can find them for sale.

Mike / KK5F