dcsutherland

[how do i delete an extra message?]

what the heck is the vader console from? I've never seen it either. hey btw, I really need advice about selling a large group of systems/carts like this guy (except they aren't so rare or new in box) I am starting to get ready to sell my collection which is mostly like 1500 copies of combat and pacman - well seriously... it's like 1000+ carts (I think - it's been a long while since I went through it) - I have a lot of duped loose carts and then a lot of RED/SILVER era sealed stuff and a some somewhat scarce stuff-mostly focusing on 2600. Also have several boxed new 7800 systems, coleco system, and adam system, ti 99/4a system, intellivision system (inc. 2600 adapter), controllers, etc etc. and carts for these and 5200. a few channel f (? I think that was it-? one of the odd systems)... ANYWAY my question is - if someone has a large collection to sell (me) what is recommended - should i sell it as one big lot or should I split it up? I'd really like to make it easy just to move in one drop, but most of my collection isn't new or so rare like this guys was. I don't want to have carts piddling out forever either but would like to get *some decent* money back from all my hunting days. I realize though that I collected for the fun of it-that profit is pretty unrealistic. Any suggestions? (I am in L.A. too and am worried a bit about shipping - if I put all the boxes together on a pallet they stack about 5 feet tall - and the carts are pretty compactly boxed. I'm not so sure how to ship a pallet to someone-does UPS even do that?)

Living in the inland empire around 1984 I was 16 years old and visiting Balboa Island-a beach area in Southern Calif. and I went into an arcade there. I think it was the "Bay Arcade - 706 E Bay Ave - Baboa (Newport Beach), CA". This arcade had been there forever and I think is still there. They had an old army style game and I think something like sub-hunt. The classic old arcade - a bunch of skee ball lanes. Anyway I was really shocked to see an old yellow cabinet with the PONG moniker facing the wall! One of the paddle handles was missing and the game wasn't plugged in. I went to the counter to see what was what and after expressing some interest in the game at all the guy basically asked me if I wanted to just take it! I was so stoked! So the next week we came down with a truck and took it away. The motherboard was a huge thing screwed to the back panel board with no apparent cpu and the display, if I remember correctly was a converted TV with cardboard around it to hide the TV parts. I think it was mfr'd missing the tuner but still had the std face-there was something weird about it. I can't remember if it worked but after a couple months we moved it to my buddy's house and put it in his basement to work on. A bunch of time went by and I was pretty annoyed because my friend's dad cleaned up his house and put the game outside in the driveway. That didn't nearly piss me off as much as when a couple weeks later he decided to clean up some more and the game dissappeared to the trash dump! ARGH! He was a great friend though, so it never ended up being a sore point.

I always wondered about what exactly the really small changes in the labels could be attributed to. I think I had always hoped that one day someone would unearth some financial log from Atari describing production runs of labels. (I think when I was looking into label variations I was getting too into it.) When you look at the cartridge label variation can you tell if it was a shift in the same print run (different operator, different day, etc.) or was it a completely different printing plant? I had a chance to look at a lot of Pac Man carts for instance and it's really interesting how the elements can move around. It does make sense what 'as_the_gavel_falls' says about printing technology changing. I think if we understood technically the printing process better you might be able to tell what was a re-layout of the elements and what was just an element shifting or restart at the same plant. Of course, does it make a difference? Not too sure! Maybe if we find that in 30 years all the "ball touches "8" in 2628" carts stop working while the "ball does not touch "8" in 2628" continue to work, then we'll know-yes, the label matters. ha! (Doubt that will happen.) I am suspicious also of RED BOX contents that are stamped "MADE IN HONG KONG MFRD IN CHINA" vs. "MADE IN HONG KONG MFRD IN [elsewhere]" or somesuch. Has anyone bought and opened these to compare? I think there is Mfr stamping on the back of the instruction sheets too that might vary. (It's been a long time since I compared these.) Also, what about the 3-digit stamped numbers on the end of the Atari Picture label carts? Has that been discussed already?

I think I still have at least a couple unopened 2600Jr's. The thing is though, these I don't think are really "sealed" per say. I don't know how you can tell if someone has opened the lid and looked inside. The cords, etc. - that you can prob. tell...