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