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.



--