Steven Hirsch wrote:
Michael J. Mahon wrote:Steven Hirsch wrote:schmidtd wrote:On Jun 6, 2:05 am, "mr. brad" <mrb...@ll.net> wrote:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160120886230&;...what am i missing on this auction to make this particular apple II go for somuch?Serial number 1298 - oldest-style keyboard, toggle switch power supply, integer ROMs (is that a programmer's aid chip in there, too?), zipper case - what's not to love?Actually, the PCB serial number is 1579. Mine's older (1478) :-). In my dotage I'll probably sell it to defer nursing home costs. Until then, you'll have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.And those are date codes, right--the 15th week of 1979 and the 14th week of 1978?Not sure, but that would make sense. It appears to be hand-written on a white block of photoresist.The actual serial number on the bottom of my unit is 1195. It has a gold power supply, but with the little round-handled mini-switch instead of a rocker. The power light looks like a key with a white top. Keyboard has a single board. The case has vents. It's in immaculate condition with _no_ visible yellowing. There appear to be RAM size jumpers and the slot connectors are green phenolic with panel-mount tabs on the ends.
These 50-pin connectors were in HP labstock, since they were widely used in the HP 3000! Lots of the Apple II bill of materials was the same as HP labstock, since HP encouraged engineers to experiment on their own projects.
When you consider the actual selling price for this system, I think that "fluke" is appropriate. Apple II's in good condition aren't *that* rare. But, given the right bidders in a collectors market, and you have the perfect storm. ;-)I'll find out someday, but for now I'm hanging on to this baby!
A good idea--the average selling price is bound to be rising as the number of collectors increases and the number of available systems does not. ;-) -michael NadaNet file server for Apple II computers! Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/ "The wastebasket is our most important design tool--and it's seriously underused."