On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 12:20:06 UTC, Bill M
wrote:

No Spam wrote:
On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 03:15:09 UTC, Bill M
wrote:


Investment vehicle. The guy who pays 20 grand will be selling it for 30
in the not too distant future. Most catalin sets have a lot of frequent
flyer miles since they change hands so much.


You're saying what they're doing but I still do not understand the
mania. Somewhere, is there someone who values those ugly catalin
radios? Why? Why does that end-user want it?

Thats the rub. There aren't many end users...they keep selling to the
next guy to "finds out about the hot investment". Well, yeah, I'm
overstating it a bit but you get the idea.

So it's a little like "Tulipmania" and 1920's Florida land?


I can imagine a rack of, say, 5 Heathkit SB-220's. Contest station
look. At current eBay prices, that might be $3,000 for all five.

For $5,000, you could probably get 5 Alpha 374's.

Is a $20,000 catalin radio really worth more than 20 Alpha 374's?

No way...not for me anyway. In truth very few value at 20 grand, most
are in the 1-5k category as if that makes any difference.

I saw a Fada Catalin go for over $20,000 on the Bay. I have a nice
AM/FM radio with CD player and good speakers. I paid $19.95 for it
at Big Lots.



I'm glad that collectors haven't discovered boatanchor radios yet.

Watch what you say! There are a number of guys paying over the top to
have a BA "collection" but it hasn't reached the same extreme.

I expect that BA's will get pricey. I'm surprised that most are
selling for less than their new price, de-inflation. I recently
bought a nice DX-60, the exact model I built as a novice in 1963. I
paid about $70 for it. That's close to the kit price 44 years
ago.

I suppose there aren't that many people who want DX-60's but I
remember working JA's and VK's on the 15 meter novice band with it.

If boatanchor prices tracked inflation, this radio would be about
$1,000. Figure, a coke used to be a dime, it's $2.50 in a
restaurant now. A '63 vette was $4,000, maybe $5,000 with fuel
injection and some options. What's a 2005 'vette? $50.000?

I still have the SX-101A that I used with the DX-60. I paid $200
for it, used. These are still going for about $200.

Based simply on inflation, these radios would go for 10X or 20X
their original price. I'm not betting that they will but I am
picking up a few interesting radios to refurb and to use.



--

On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 12:20:06 UTC, Bill M
wrote:

No Spam wrote:
On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 03:15:09 UTC, Bill M
wrote:


Investment vehicle. The guy who pays 20 grand will be selling it for 30
in the not too distant future. Most catalin sets have a lot of frequent
flyer miles since they change hands so much.


You're saying what they're doing but I still do not understand the
mania. Somewhere, is there someone who values those ugly catalin
radios? Why? Why does that end-user want it?

Thats the rub. There aren't many end users...they keep selling to the
next guy to "finds out about the hot investment". Well, yeah, I'm
overstating it a bit but you get the idea.

So it's a little like "Tulipmania" and 1920's Florida land?


I can imagine a rack of, say, 5 Heathkit SB-220's. Contest station
look. At current eBay prices, that might be $3,000 for all five.

For $5,000, you could probably get 5 Alpha 374's.

Is a $20,000 catalin radio really worth more than 20 Alpha 374's?

No way...not for me anyway. In truth very few value at 20 grand, most
are in the 1-5k category as if that makes any difference.

I saw a Fada Catalin go for over $20,000 on the Bay. I have a nice
AM/FM radio with CD player and good speakers. I paid $19.95 for it
at Big Lots.



I'm glad that collectors haven't discovered boatanchor radios yet.

Watch what you say! There are a number of guys paying over the top to
have a BA "collection" but it hasn't reached the same extreme.

I expect that BA's will get pricey. I'm surprised that most are
selling for less than their new price, de-inflation. I recently
bought a nice DX-60, the exact model I built as a novice in 1963. I
paid about $70 for it. That's close to the kit price 44 years
ago.

I suppose there aren't that many people who want DX-60's but I
remember working JA's and VK's on the 15 meter novice band with it.

If boatanchor prices tracked inflation, this radio would be about
$1,000. Figure, a coke used to be a dime, it's $2.50 in a
restaurant now. A '63 vette was $4,000, maybe $5,000 with fuel
injection and some options. What's a 2005 'vette? $50.000?

I still have the SX-101A that I used with the DX-60. I paid $200
for it, used. These are still going for about $200.

Based simply on inflation, these radios would go for 10X or 20X
their original price. I'm not betting that they will but I am
picking up a few interesting radios to refurb and to use.



--

No Spam wrote:
On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 03:15:09 UTC, Bill M
wrote:


Investment vehicle. The guy who pays 20 grand will be selling it for 30
in the not too distant future. Most catalin sets have a lot of frequent
flyer miles since they change hands so much.


You're saying what they're doing but I still do not understand the
mania. Somewhere, is there someone who values those ugly catalin
radios? Why? Why does that end-user want it?

Thats the rub. There aren't many end users...they keep selling to the
next guy to "finds out about the hot investment". Well, yeah, I'm
overstating it a bit but you get the idea.

I can imagine a rack of, say, 5 Heathkit SB-220's. Contest station
look. At current eBay prices, that might be $3,000 for all five.

For $5,000, you could probably get 5 Alpha 374's.

Is a $20,000 catalin radio really worth more than 20 Alpha 374's?

No way...not for me anyway. In truth very few value at 20 grand, most
are in the 1-5k category as if that makes any difference.

I'm glad that collectors haven't discovered boatanchor radios yet.

Watch what you say! There are a number of guys paying over the top to
have a BA "collection" but it hasn't reached the same extreme.

-Bill

In article , Bill M
writes:

Investment vehicle. The guy who pays 20 grand will be selling it for 30
in the not too distant future. Most catalin sets have a lot of frequent
flyer miles since they change hands so much.

Yes, the Catalin simple 4-tube-plus-rectifier radios are a sure sign of beauty
over performance. But one thing to remember -- the Ctalin plastic is unstable,
and over theyears, many of these sets discolor (the lovely yellow ones were
once white), and worse yet, they crack!

Good news: every year Catalin sets without cracks are more rare, so yours is
more valuable.

Bad news: unless yours cracked.

Same thing applies to pot metal, which most BAs have none of. BAs are not
likely to break just sitting on yoru shelf -- or your operating table. --Mike
K.

Oscar loves trash, but hates Spam! Delete him to reply to me.

On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 03:15:09 UTC, Bill M
wrote:

No Spam wrote:



I saw a "catalin" table radio sell on eBay for over $20,000.
These are plastic AM table radios in weird colors. Apparently
collectors, whoever they are, are collecting these, for whatever
reason.

Investment vehicle. The guy who pays 20 grand will be selling it for 30
in the not too distant future. Most catalin sets have a lot of frequent
flyer miles since they change hands so much.

You're saying what they're doing but I still do not understand the
mania. Somewhere, is there someone who values those ugly catalin
radios? Why? Why does that end-user want it?

I can imagine a rack of, say, 5 Heathkit SB-220's. Contest station
look. At current eBay prices, that might be $3,000 for all five.

For $5,000, you could probably get 5 Alpha 374's.

Is a $20,000 catalin radio really worth more than 20 Alpha 374's?

I'm glad that collectors haven't discovered boatanchor radios yet.

de ah6gi/4 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RadioInvestor/

In article , Bill M
writes:

Investment vehicle. The guy who pays 20 grand will be selling it for 30
in the not too distant future. Most catalin sets have a lot of frequent
flyer miles since they change hands so much.

Yes, the Catalin simple 4-tube-plus-rectifier radios are a sure sign of beauty
over performance. But one thing to remember -- the Ctalin plastic is unstable,
and over theyears, many of these sets discolor (the lovely yellow ones were
once white), and worse yet, they crack!

Good news: every year Catalin sets without cracks are more rare, so yours is
more valuable.

Bad news: unless yours cracked.

Same thing applies to pot metal, which most BAs have none of. BAs are not
likely to break just sitting on yoru shelf -- or your operating table. --Mike
K.

Oscar loves trash, but hates Spam! Delete him to reply to me.

There are two schools of thought on boatanchors. I'm in the fix
it and use it school.

Me too. That doesn't mean I'll drill holes in an unmodified BA or make
irreversible changes, though.

There is another school of thought. These are like collectors of
antiques. You're not supposed to clean or restore a real
antique. The real fanatics prize the patina of age (dirt) on
furniture or whatever.

Radios owned by these folk are called "shelf queens". They are
not repaired except with original parts. Since you can't find a
70 year old capacitor that works, these radios don't work. They
sit on the shelf and are display-only.

Yep. Sad, really, because a lot of fix-it-and-use-it work can be done so the
radio still looks "vintage". For example, a lot of folks clean out the old
electrolytics, put modern ones inside the old can and seal it up so that unless
you look really closely you'll never know it was redone. Same for wax paper
caps.

I have another view of antique radios. I believe that the prices
are yet to be realized.

I saw a "catalin" table radio sell on eBay for over $20,000.
These are plastic AM table radios in weird colors. Apparently
collectors, whoever they are, are collecting these, for whatever
reason.

There's a major difference between fixing up something old in order to use it,
and collecting "real" antiques. The latter becomes more a matter of "art".

For example, look at how some old wines fetch incredible prices. In many cases,
the bottles will never be opened - and, in fact, the wine inside is probably
vinegar by now. What has happened is that it's no longer really about a
beverage - it's about the bottle as a collectible, which means its price has
nothing to do with its real worth.

Watch the Antique Roadshow. Weird, screwy stuff is priced at
incredible numbers. Ugly furniture, carvings, ceramics,
paintings, books, most things I'd say, "what would I do with
that?" Incredible numbers like $10,000, $25,000, $80,000.

That's because the experts know that someone out there will pay those prices.
In many cases, rarity alone is the driving force. There's also age, condition,
and somewhere in there is the actual craftsmanship.

One of my favorite AR stories is the one where two ladies (sisters) brought in
a nice table lamp with a Tiffany-type shade. They said a local antique dealer
had said it wasn't a genuine Tiffany (because the base was metal, not wood),
and was worth maybe $100.

The expert said it was indeed genuine, and was one of a very few made about
1904. Only about six examples were known to survive, and none were as good as
the two ladies'.

They had been using it as a table lamp in the living room, and it had Kmart
bulbs in it. Worked, too. They had brought it to the show in a cardboard box,
in the back of the minivan.

Expert priced it at about $120,000. Their *house* wasn't worth $120,000.


Then I look at my Signal/One CX7A, one of less that 1,000.
Incredible engineering, Nixie tubes.

I think that in the near future, boatanchor radios will be highly
prized collectables. It might not happen for 20 years, it might
be starting now.

I wouldn't count on it. Too far off the beaten path of the antique/collectible
world. Then again, a few years ago, somebody paid $5100 for an unbuilt AT-1
kit. That's not a typo - five thousand one hundred US dollars.

I hate to say it but the people who are preserving "shelf queens"
will probably see the highest valuations.

Sad but true. Anyhting not "original" will devalue. Whether it actually works
is immaterial.

I'm definitely not in that school.

Nor I.

About 15 years back I came across a partially-built HW-101 kit (the builder had
only done the VFO). Also an unbuilt HP-23. Like a dummy I bought the pair for
$150 and built them. I don't want to know what the unbuilt kit would be worth
today.

73 de Jim, N2EY

As for the value of a Viking II, go to www.aade.com. Neil
maintains a price list of boatanchors. Take Neil's price and
double it. That'd be my guess.

Really?? His prices are based on what
things sold for on eBay. I've never
considered eBay prices to be low, or
even typical.

Have you been getting twice eBay prices
for all the things you've been selling?
I may need to recalibrate - I may be rich ;-)

73, John - K6QQ

No Spam No wrote:

snip

Watch the Antique Roadshow. Weird, screwy stuff is priced at
incredible numbers. Ugly furniture, carvings, ceramics,
paintings, books, most things I'd say, "what would I do with
that?" Incredible numbers like $10,000, $25,000, $80,000.

Use a big grain of salt with what you see on the Antique Roadshow.

They have been know to appaise modern, sub $100 replicas at tens of
thousands of dollars among other things; it is TV.

rest snipped

--
Jim Pennino

Remove -spam-sux to reply.

No Spam wrote:



I saw a "catalin" table radio sell on eBay for over $20,000.
These are plastic AM table radios in weird colors. Apparently
collectors, whoever they are, are collecting these, for whatever
reason.

Investment vehicle. The guy who pays 20 grand will be selling it for 30
in the not too distant future. Most catalin sets have a lot of frequent
flyer miles since they change hands so much.

-Bill