[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Apple I Auction Article

On Sun, 28 Nov 2010, Allen Bong wrote:


On Nov 29, 2:43 am, "Charlie" <charlieD...@verEYEzon.net> wrote:

"brad" <mrb...@ll.net> wrote in message

news:ictghc$5ec$1@news.bbs-scene.org...


i thought i heard on npr or someplace it sold for $213,000.00



anyone clarify....but that is what i think i heard



brad
former sysop lost gonzo bbs


Naw, it only got a mere $210,700:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20023772-37.html

Charlie


That amount should be enough for my retirement in Malaysia.  Where did
I put my Ohio Scientific C1P SBC!!!  It should woth something by now.


But not much.

It's not age that drives the price, but demand versus supply.
An Apple II is still pretty cheap, since so many were made and there aren't too many people that want one today.
The OSI Superboard was for the "rest of us" who couldn't afford an Apple II back then. It was far cheaper than an Apple II. It had to have sold "decently", not as well as the Apple II but because the latter was a better known name. 

The Apple I had very limited production, and sold over a very brief time.
It predated a popular interest in home computers, so they existed in the hands of a specific subset of the population. I seem to recall some tradein program for the Apple I when the II came along, it that really happened it would have reduced the number of Apple Is out there anyway. Plus, it was a limited computer, not much way to expand it, so many likely abandoned it fairly quickly, which can result in a certain percentage going to the garbage rather than being kept around. Very few think in terms of history while events are happening, it takes time for people to regret getting rid of their junk, or to wish for something they wanted when they were younger but couldn't afford. So anything goes through a period of being nothing more than junk, its useful life finished and virtually nobody interested in "collecting".
So the Apple I had a limited run, and those numbers were decreased by attrition and whatever else. Even when someone bought one way back then, they have to give it up in order for it to be available for someone else 
to buy.  So the numbers of available Apple Is is terrible small.
So the price goes up. That brings attention, which drives up the price again. More people can imagine an Apple I, since it's a known brand, only a relative few would want a Jupiter Wavemate. Once the price of the Apple I gets high enough, it gets wider coverage, and that brings in more people, fools with money who think it would be an investment, or people who want to be able to claim they have an early "home computer" even if they hadn't given it much thought until they read the article. That boasing wouldn't work if they said "Jupiter Wavemate" since nobody except those around way back when would have heard of the name. So the potential demand goes way up, people who have money but only a minor interest. And that drives the price up further.
I've never known anyone with an Apple I. I had an Apple III for a while, well after it was in production. I have an OSI Superboard, I knew a few people back then that had them. Only hobbyists would know about OSI now, so even if there were only a few remaining, they wouldn't attract the "investors with big money". 

   Michael