[smush]

Semi OT -> Sometimes I'm baffled at how people don't know about rare things like this, but I wonder how long that can last.

Do you think the 'boxed up in a random lot, IDK what it is, some computer thing' behavior we've seen up to now with many rare electronics, games, computers, etc. will go away over time as more people grow up with internet access and web search?

Let's take something that is equally 'dead' in terms of not being made any more: the Samsung Taylor, a dev windows phone. A few devs got some, but otherwise it is gone to the wind. Just to look at it, it looks like a slate smartphone, pretty innocuous. But if you were to search its model number, you'd immediately know you had something rare and valuable to a certain niche (which I admit to being in).

[phaedrus]

I own a piece of semi-precious test equipment, a Fluke 9010a base unit along with some pods. A beloved mentor got it when an engineering company discarded it and gave it to me while it was mostly a curio. I used it on a retrocomputing project ten years ago.

Tens years ago when I last used it I was a bit surprised to find the set was worth about as much as "a new laptop." (Apparently people still use the Fluke for troubleshooting arcade machines.)

This week I was surprised again to discover the set is now worth about as much as "a new Mac laptop" (i.e. about twice). And many of the prices I was looking at were for non-working ones. Mine works.

So I think it's very easy to lay something aside with a vague idea it "might" be worth something without realizing it's worth the effort to find out exactly how much. You don't know what you don't know.

(I don't think I'd sell mine due to its sentimental value from who gave it to me and what I've used it for. Though I would probably sell it if it doubles again.)

[ginko]

I'm a bit into hunting for old film cameras and you'd be surprized how many people barely do any checking before putting things on sale (or worse, just throw them away). I wonder how many old 'Nintendos' ended up on the landfill that way.

For instance here's three old Agfa folding cameras:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Agfa_Sup...

https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images2/1/0311/07/agfa-au...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Agfa_Iso...

One's barely worth anything, one's worth quite a bit, one's extremely rare. Would you know which is which just from looking?

[derefr]

I mean, if by “putting them up for sale” they’re putting the thing on eBay as an auction, that’s not exactly mal-adaptive behaviour. The market will—hopefully!—recognize the value and set the price.

[w0m]

Honestly; that it's hard to tell the difference is a non-trivial reason why they are valuable in the first place; increases rarity.

[behringer]

Well that's the thing with making history. When you're making it, it is often boring, thankless and paved with dead ends. Does anybody want your shitty high school drawings? Only of you end up being the next Picasso. But who would have thought? Then there's artifacts that are worth a lot to the right dozen people, and literally nobody else would give you a dime.

[grecy]

> Do you think the 'boxed up in a random lot, IDK what it is, some computer thing' behavior we've seen up to now with many rare electronics, games, computers, etc. will go away over time as more people grow up with internet access and web search?

It's over for rare cars. A friend lives in Southern Africa and used to buy gems cheaply when the person didn't know what they had and then ship them to Europe or the USA for a good profit. Now the owner can just google it and see immediately it's worth big bucks

[numpad0]

Corporates always destroy gears to protect IP, so scarcity for failed gears is definitely skyrocketing as we speak.

Spinning up a mini computer in the basement was a good stupid nerd hobby a decade ago, but I can’t see the same happening with retired AWS or GCP servers, now or in a decade.