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Re: Apple II on ebay. Real or fake?
jsnospam@cimmeri.com wrote:
There are obviously shades of gray here on how to define an Apple II.
This is becoming a similar conversation to definining planets and
whether Pluto is one or not.
As with vintage cars, you have the true stock originals that are
restored to factory spec.. and you have everything from there on out..
from slightly changed cars to radically reworked rides.
I agree with Michael.. the best collector Apple II is a pre A2+ unit,
with original mobo, roms, keyboard, black label A2S1 serial number, A2
lid, maybe even original power supply (or at least power supply color
of gold). When you have these components, there is no doubt as to
what you have.
I would define second rank as those II's made or sold after the
existence of the A2+... that appear to share some A2+ parts.. namely
keyboard, later revision mobos, etc... but that give every suggestion
of not having been appreciably modified so would still have correct
Roms, lid, and likely A2S1 serial number.
I would define third rank as A2+s that appear to have started life as
an A2 -- they retain an A2S1 serial number but now have A2+ roms,
mobo, maybe even lid.
All others, I would define as equal in rank to a 2+ from a collector
point of view.
I think this hierarchy is beginning to approach the full
"Antiques Road Show" treatment, which is what I would expect of
any full-blown collector-centric categorization.
Imagine a 2077 "Apple II appraiser" examining a purported Apple ][...
"You have what appears to be an "Apple ][" computer...or one of
the many replicas produced in the early part of this century.
"First, we look for the obvious external characteristics: badge,
label, and serial number, which suggests a mid-1979 manufacture
in Cupertino, California, where the "two Steves" started it all.
"Then, we notice the characteristic discoloration of the case that
all early Apple ]['s exhibit, because of the formulation of the plastic.
This one is particularly nice, because the non-uniform yellowing clearly
indicates that it spent a lot of time under an original Monitor III, as
you can see from the pattern of the "feet"--you don't happen to actually
*have* that monitor, do you? They are even *more* valuable than the
computers because almost all of them were disposed of by 2020 because
they contained materials thought toxic then.
"Now, let's open the case--see how the top just pops off!--and look
inside, where we see the early 1979 main board markings, the green
expansion connectors, the white game port connector, and these three
little blocks for configuring the memory size. And see these two
large empty sockets? I'll bet you thought the machine had been
cannibalized, didn't you? Well, you're in luck--the original
machine shipped with just these four ROMs! These characteristics
are all consistent with an early production Apple ][.
"You also have the "gold" power supply, which is fairly common, but
appropriate to an Apple ][ of this date. The original owner must
have been lucky and never had to replace his supply with a better one.
"So far, this is looking *very* good!
"But now let's take a close look at the chips, which you'll note are
*socketed*--isn't that quaint! Many original owners actually removed
these to install other equipment or to repair their machines. Look at
the date codes on all the chips. See how they are all mid-1978 to
early-1979 codes...hmm, except for this memory chip, which is 1984,
but even that tells a story!
"These machines were often expanded with a "Language Card" that plugged
into slot 0, here, but to save money, they got some of their timing
signals from a memory chip on the main board, which was then put into
the Language Card. Later, when the Language Card was removed, the DRAM
chip went with it, leaving an empty socket *right here*! (Ah...!)
"This machine must have had such a card removed, and then the current
owner filled that empty socket with a non-original 1984 memory chip!
"But, not to worry, that actually adds some charm to the history of this
machine and certainly won't decrease its value at auction.
"I can't tell you what a pleasure it is to see one of these in this
condition! I hope you haven't tried to turn it on (because that should
only be done by an expert, to avoid risk to the power supply), but I
wouldn't be surprised if it worked! The problem now is finding an old
monitor that can display what was known as "analog" video.
"I think that this machine, in its current condition, would bring about
$66,600 to $76,000 at auction!
"It's good that you didn't attempt to clean the case, as that would have
marred the texture and reduced its value to less than $30,000."
-michael
NadaNet networking for Apple II computers!
Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."