A friend of a friend helped someone out a few years ago who was in a similar situation, but with high-end audiophile stuff. Same general deal, tho - had a collection build with love and detail over decades but for practical reasons had to make it gone. The solution was to find someone also in the community so he had enough knowledge and insight and connections, but was also younger, stronger and had the time & mental bandwidth to handle the distribution.
Instead of trying to find one or a few buyers for the whole thing, or ebaying it all out, they worked in the community to redistribute/sell it. They didn't make all the money they could have if they really tried, but they did good enough. Not pennies on the dollar, but maybe dimes or quarters on the dollar? But more importantly, they got the satisfaction of knowing that the collection was being seeded out to other audiophiles in the area, and that collections were being filled out, or in some cases collections started by new people entering the hobby. And that the stuff would be put to use and loved and remembered, as opposed to just getting anonymously sold off, landfilled, or stuck in a museum's massive warehouse, like the Ark of the Covenant, never to be seen again (I've been in the basement of Seattle's LCM; you wouldn't believe what's down there!). Anyway, if you could find someone local who has the time and interest to really go through your collection, identify people/organizations who would really use the equipment and handling distribution & shipping, that might really take the edge off divesting yourself of it. From what you listed, some of it are true museum pieces, while others are more commodity items that still are appreciated by community members. Both ends of the spectrum are worth finding new owners for, but they have very different strategies for doing so. (I'd do it in a heartbeat if I were anywhere nearby! But Seattle is just a smidge too far to drive!) Regardless, best luck in downsizing your collection! Looking forwards to seeing a list of items available! -mike -----Original Message----- From: George Currie via cctalk <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, January 7, 2023 11:02 AM To: [email protected] Cc: George Currie <[email protected]> Subject: [cctalk] Downsizing "feeler" Greetings all, it's "that time", the time I've finally accepted that I no longer have the time/energy/space to devote to this collection/restoration hobby that I've been able to enjoy for several decades now.During this time, I've managed to amass a pretty sizeable amount of hardware, software, manuals, etc. We're talking half a garage, part of a large shed and a storage rental's worth of stuff. I need to go through and hit some highlights, but there are things from rack mount PDP-10's, an SGI (Challenge XL rack, Indy's), tons of old Macs (original, 512, original, Portable, etc), Lisa, Apple II, Commodore, TRS80, Grid, HERO robots, DG Aviion, HP PA-RISC, MIPS system, early luggables (e.g. Zenith), boxes of ISA cards, etc, etc, etc. A good 20ft uhaul trucks worth of stuff.There is no way I can piece meal stuff, so I'd be looking for someone, or an org like a museum, who is willing to take the whole enchilada.This is an early feeler before I start doing actual inventory to see if a) is anyone interested in/capable of dealing with a large collectionb) is anyone aware of someone, or a museum, that may be interestedI know I'm a bit light on the details, and we all know where the devil lives. But this is the first step.The collection is located in Central Texas.TIA for any interest, leads, pointers, sympathy, ridicule, etc.George
