AtariLeaf Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Just an observation and I have nothing to back this up so I could be completely wrong but it seems the Coco is becoming a more popular system to collect for and prices on both hardware and software have risen, in some cases, dramatically, in the last few years. I could easily buy lots of coco carts for almost nothing on ebay just a few short years ago. Now some carts are going for $30+ loose, especially coco 3 games. More if they're CIB of course. The computers themselves have gone up too. Coco 1's and 2's could routinely be had for under $20+ shipping. Coco 3's would be well under $100. Now all have risen quite a bit and are actually selling for higher prices in many cases. Disk drives and other hard to find hardware has always been pricey as the marketplace dictates but even those items have risen as well. Supply and demand obviously which supports the idea that demand has risen as more collectors and enthusiasts either are discovering the coco for the first time or those who had the coco in the 80's are reacquiring a piece of their past. On facebook and the coco mailing list I do notice more first time posters asking questions and posting memories, talking about finding a coco locally, looking to buy one from the group, or buying one on ebay. I do know that Cloud-9 has risen it's prices as his finite stock of Coco 3's, which used to be several hundred machines, has dwindled to perhaps a couple dozen or more and Mark Marlette has mentioned an increase in interest and sales on his site in the last couple of years or more. This post is just my observations more than anything, being a coco collector for many years. It's nice to see an interest in a machine that I personally hold so dear but at the same time, I'm glad I've already acquired those coco items I've always wanted. Still would be nice to find those super rare Anteco carts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Interest has picked up but the prices people are asking for some carts isn't necessarily what they will actually sell for.My CoCo collection burned up so it's kinda bad timing. I couldn't possibly replace all my carts and hardware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 My CoCo collection burned up so it's kinda bad timing. I couldn't possibly replace all my carts and hardware. Jesus I'm so sorry. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I've been collecting for the Color Computer for about five or six years, but only piecemeal. I'll get a couple of carts here, one or two there. Mostly that's due to relatively high prices. I just jumped on a loose Androne in good condition for $15, which objectively is probably a little high for a loose cart, but that's one I usually see at ~$20-25+, in ANY condition. It's a Catch-22; I'm contributing to overpricing when I pay $10-12 a cart (or $15 in this case), but I'm also probably not going to see them for less. CoCo stuff is just expensive.Partly out of necessity and partly because of space (but mostly necessity ), I've narrowed my collecting aims to just get carts that I actually want to play (because I love cartridges!) and use DriveWire for everything else. If there was a good way to transfer disk images to cassette, I'd be golden; I love physical media but don't want to shell out for a disk system.I probably didn't choose the best time to get into CoCo collecting, but really, any time after ~2005-06 was a bad time to get into collecting just about anything. Even Odyssey 2 stuff is jacked way up now. But hey, it could be worse. Color Computer prices haven't gotten to NeoGeo levels yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cncfreak Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Just picked up a model 1 and model 3 off of here. Cant' wait to get them home and mess around with em. Need to pick a few games up as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebulon Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Not sure of the exact reasons why the prices are going up, but things that might be contributing to it are: - The spiffy Donkey Kong homebrew on the CoCo 3. - An inexpensive way to get your hands on a 6809 machine. - The fact that there doesn't seem to be a Color Computer emulator out there that plays audio without sounding scratchy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari-Collector Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 I'm a big TRS-80 fan, my first computer was and still is a TRS-80 model one with a amazingly low serial number in the 4xxx range. Last week I got an Expansion Interface for it. And a model 100 arrived the same day. 15 hours ago I got a Model 4 and I'm still so pumped I can't go to bed.. My brother actually said to me in a email "why do you even want those paper weights.." he just doesn't get it.. But I just never got interested in the the Coco's.. I've come close a few times to bidding on them on the evil auction site, but never did. being color just didn't feel like a TRS-80 to me.. I have nothing against then, just not what I want to collect, but who knows, if i stumble across one cheap some day I might buy one.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 The early model 1s saying TRS-80 notwithstanding, I just can't see a computer that isn't driven by a Z80 as a TRS-80. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted January 18, 2015 Author Share Posted January 18, 2015 The early model 1s saying TRS-80 notwithstanding, I just can't see a computer that isn't driven by a Z80 as a TRS-80. Growing up we always called them Tandy Color Computers or Radio Shack Color Computers. Even if they officially carried that badge we never called them "TRS-80's" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krslam Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Maybe it's because Radio Shack is dying. Kinda like how a painter's works become more valuable after his death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari-Collector Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Maybe it's because Radio Shack is dying. Kinda like how a painter's works become more valuable after his death. Radio Shack has been gone from Canada for many years now. It was sold to Circuit City that renamed it "The Source" and now I believe it's owned by Bell Canada (the phone company) and I've heard The Source is dieing itself now.. Basically it's just a lame consumer electronics store with high prices and clueless staff.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I'm a big TRS-80 fan, my first computer was and still is a TRS-80 model one with a amazingly low serial number in the 4xxx range. Last week I got an Expansion Interface for it. And a model 100 arrived the same day. 15 hours ago I got a Model 4 and I'm still so pumped I can't go to bed.. My brother actually said to me in a email "why do you even want those paper weights.." he just doesn't get it.. But I just never got interested in the the Coco's.. I've come close a few times to bidding on them on the evil auction site, but never did. being color just didn't feel like a TRS-80 to me.. I have nothing against then, just not what I want to collect, but who knows, if i stumble across one cheap some day I might buy one.. Radio Shack computers are my favorites lately. For me it probably started with the Color Computer, and I expanded to other TRS-80 systems from there. My Model I is one of the crown jewels of my computer collection due to both its historical importance and the fact that I love old '70s games and systems. I own a Model I (16K Level II), Tandy 2 (a "Tandified" Model II in a white case and Tandy badge), Color Computer (64K), Color Computer 2 (16K), Color Computer 3 (128K), and two MC-10s. Incredibly, the only ones I paid money for were the CoCo 3 and one of the MC-10s...the rest were generously donated by collector friends or rescued. I still want to get a Model 100 and a PC-2. 'Cause why not? Maybe it's because Radio Shack is dying. Kinda like how a painter's works become more valuable after his death. With tech and pop culture (except maybe in the case of music or art), I've observed the opposite to be true, where a company that's been a visible force in its industry for a long time has fans who collect its early products at often premium prices. I always use Apple computers and Coca-Cola as examples. Look at the prices of early Apple II/II+ hardware, driven by computer collectors and further exacerbated by "the cult of Apple." And early Coca-Cola memorabilia is highly collectible, as well. But if Apple is Cola-Cola, then Tandy is Moxie or something. I think it really just comes down to supply and demand, though. There just isn't as much Tandy stuff out there today, and most of it is probably in the hands of collectors by now. I suspect new collectors (new to Tandy systems, I mean) come to the TRS-80s from other systems after having cut their retro teeth on mainstays like the Commodore 64, Atari 800, or Apple IIe and are looking for something different for one reason or another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cncfreak Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I got my Coco 1 and 3 in this weekend and looks like both work so I am a happy camper. Yesterday I went out to the flea market and actually found a beat up cart for the Coco for $2.00. I think that might be the first one I've found out in the wild in my area. (Roman Checkers) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPA5 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Jesus I'm so sorry. His name isn't Jesus, it's James. I've actually been thinking about picking up a CoCo 3, a friend of a friend has one in storage and I've been bugging him to sell it. Right now he seems to want to keep it, even though he hasn't even taken it out of the box in the attic for years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 I've also noticed prices going up. I've started thinking about selling my CoCo2 and carts. My guess is that it's just a supply thing...there just aren't a lot of these out there for sale. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 My guess is that it's just a supply thing...there just aren't a lot of these out there for sale. Absolutely. There seems to be a bit of a growing interest coupled with limited supply. I suppose it was inevitable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerG Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Yes, and I blame AtariLeaf and his YouTube videos . Go check the old threads over at Digital Press. People were giving away Coco stuff for free, begging people to take their stuff -- now people are fighting over DinoWars -- all because of AtariLeaf, ha! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 You know, Dino Wars is one game I don't have.....hint hint hint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Me too. Didn't know it was supposed to be anything special, so I've been holding out for one in clean condition (I'm a freak about CoCo label condition. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 I know about labels. My Shooting Gallery is kind of ratty and Roman Checkers is just horrible. My Dino Wars, however, is just fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Yes, and I blame AtariLeaf and his YouTube videos . Go check the old threads over at Digital Press. People were giving away Coco stuff for free, begging people to take their stuff -- now people are fighting over DinoWars -- all because of AtariLeaf, ha! That reminds me, I gotta do some more coco videos 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro-Z Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) I can certainly understand the CoCos becoming more popular. They are really cool old computers. My favorites, for whatever reason, are the original CoCo 1s. I find it totally awesome to load up a program from cassette and blast through something like Donkey King. Can't wait till I have enough space to pull my CoCo 1 setup out of storage, and start reading through all those years of Rainbow Magazine I picked up. In other words, I hope that I'll soon be contributing to more of those high prices for CoCo stuff! Edited January 29, 2015 by Retro-Z 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82-T/A Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 The Cocos are becoming more popular, but as it applies to IBM PC compatibles specifically... for someone who's looking for an 8088 DOS computer from that "era"... you simply can't beat the Tandys. They had the 3-voice PC speaker, and better graphics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The Cocos are becoming more popular, but as it applies to IBM PC compatibles specifically... for someone who's looking for an 8088 DOS computer from that "era"... you simply can't beat the Tandys. They had the 3-voice PC speaker, and better graphics. The IBM's aren't CoCos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The IBM's aren't CoCos. Even the IBM PC Jr..... MarkO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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