RadioBanter - View Single Post - Zenith SW radio goes for $50K on EBay. for real.!!!

January 10th 05, 03:39 AM

wrote:

Is that really any sillier than someone paying $130,000 for a 1967
Mustang, $350,000 for a MB Gullwing, $250,000 for a Pembroke table,
$10,000 for a postage stamp? I've seen them all at auctions over the
years.

There are collectors of almost anything, and some of them have the
money to spend. Just wish I was the seller of that old wooden radio.

What bothers me most about the high-end collectibles is that many of
them are never used in the way they are supposed to be. I can't speak
for the radio in question (I sincerely hope the eventual buyer
reconditions the innards as neccesary and *uses* it) but I am versed in
the vintage guitar market. There are certain Gibson Les Pauls and
Martin acoustics that sell easily in the $30,000 range at auction, and
most of them are not played - or even wall-hung. They go into bank
vaults as an "investment". Shrewd money planning, maybe, but that
instrument may never again be used for what it was designed for - making
music. I'll bet there are old Hallicrafters out there you could say the
same thing about. I think that's sad.

Tony