> -----Original Message----- > From: Christian Corti via cctalk <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 8:03 AM > To: Adam Bradley via cctalk <[email protected]> > Cc: Christian Corti <[email protected]> > Subject: [cctalk] Re: Two IBM 360's available in the UK > > On Sat, 16 Mar 2024, Adam Bradley wrote: > > Some of you may remember that I (Adam) and another chap (Chris) > > rescued two IBM 360/20 systems out of an abandoned building in > > Nuremberg back in 2019 and brought them to the UK (our blog is here: > https://www.ibm360.co.uk/). > > > > We have since basically found ourselves unable to effectively progress > > the project due to personal & professional commitments. For various > > reasons (explained in our latest blog post) we are testing the waters > > for making the machines available to the right sort of people. > > Sad to hear that. > We (Computermuseum Stuttgart) did place a bid, too. We were a bit > disappointed that instead of going just 200km, it went abroad to a now non-EU > country (which makes re-importing unattractive). But then, after we saw the > pictures of the house and the system, we were somehow glad that we did not > win ;-) We realised that, first, the overall condition is unknown or bad, and > second, it is simply not worth more than a couple of hundred Euros considering > all the forthcoming costs and time needed to transport the lot, store and restore > it etc. > I don't know if History@IBM was interested, though (they have a working > 360/20 system). And maybe the Vintage Computing Lab in Munich was > interested, too (they have a large mainframes collection, and also the last IBM > 705, although not complete). > I guess that the UK /360s are now "lost" for any non-profit/non-budget museum > in the EU.
Why should this be. I don't believe there is any import duty on items for exhibit in a museum. Any VAT should be on the current value. Yes there would be the cost of transport, but I am sure that could be crowd funded or otherwise sorted. I think the big question is, could it realistically be restored? Who would actually want to do this if they don't own it and don't have any guaranteed future rights. These questions are why many Museums only accept unconditional donations, but its also why people don't want to donate to museums as the future of the objects can be uncertain. > > > Christian Dave
