Re: Hello and thanks!

[Fortran <fortrandragon@hotmail.com>]

My glass typewriter shows Michael J. Mahon pondering...
[Snip]
> I often have the same reaction when I see "Antiques Roadshow" and
> hear that a nice old chest of drawers that has been cleaned and polished
> is worth one-fourth of what it would bring in dirty, ramshackle condition.
> And what craftsman would ever allow his tools to rust away without
> cleaning and restoring them?  So collectors are looking for stuff that
> has aged from neglect, without (too much) care or improvement!

	No, collectors generally look for stuff in its original shape, not 
stuff that has been modified by someone else.  They want that Apple ][ 
or oak pie safe in original shape, not one that has had a neon-lighted  
'blowhole' cut into the top or stained some shade of cherry, 
respectively.

	To some that just wants utility, a //e or a Mac with the emulator 
card would be just as useful.
 
> Clearly, collectors have some perverse sense of "value" which has
> nothing whatever to do with either asthetics or utility.

	Think of collectors as preservationists.  It is the difference 
between owning an Apple I and owning that college undergrad's single 
chip engineering project clone of an Apple I.  ;-)

-- 

Fortran | "There isn't enough darkness in the world
  EDL   |  to quench the light of one small candle."