Ask HN: Should I sell my vintage computer collection?
by andrewstuart on Hacker News.
I’m moving house after 10 years and realising just how many computers I have accumulated in 20 years of collecting. I have all sorts of machines, and in fact whilst packing up the house I keep finding boxes that have been mailed to me from eBay purchases that I never opened – I don’t even know what’s in them. To illustrate how many I have, the other day I thought “Do I have an Amiga? I think I do.” and I went looking through boxes. I opened a box and on top was an Amiga 1200. Underneath it were two Amiga 1000’s. I have two Apple 2 computers signed by Steve Wozniak. I’m conflicted about whether to keep all these machines or not. On one hand, having them makes me feel good inside at some level. Howver, I don’t DO anything with them – they mostly stay in boxes. Partly this is because I am way too busy doing real world stuff to be fiddling with vintage technology, partly it’s because I think for me the joy is in the wanting, the finding and the buying. I’m pretty sure I’ve developed this habit because as a child in the last 1970’s and early 80’s we could never afford a computer for many years, when it was something I wanted more than anything in the world. Partly I hold back from selling them because firstly if I regret it then I’ll never be able to build such a collection again. Partly I think maybe I’ll get around to playing with them when (if) I ever “retire”. On the other hand it’s sort of a burden to have this giant collection of “stuff”. I don’t have anywhere nice to display them, and vintage computers need a level of care and attention I just can’t give. In favor of selling them I would probably get maybe a number of thousand dollars which would help buy a house – something I ned a whole lot more than I need a bunch of vintage computers. I dunno – what do you think HN, sell the collection or keep them?