Well, my garage sale partner has finally made the conscious decision to part with this wonderful piece of Atari history - the elusive CX-2000, otherwise known as "VAL". This unit not been cleaned, disassembled, and/or modified in any shape or form. Since its recovery, it's been stored securely in a temperature controlled environment. In fact, the only thing that has been done to it, was to test its functionality just yesterday. Low and behold, IT WORKS!!!
As for asking price, he wanted to start with $18K OBO. Yes, I know it's not chump change (to most people anyways), but this is for a functioning piece of tech gaming history - 1 in maybe 10 worldwide to be in existence. And you can actually play with it!!! Due to the nature of this item, only serious buyers are welcome. The transaction will only be done in person at a bank - whether it be in cash, cashier's check or wire and full inspection of the unit, including functionality can be arranged prior to the official exchange.
********* Edit: Let's go with $11K OBO. I know it's not as reduced as some believe it's worth and that's fine. As mentioned in the thread below, ALL SERIOUS OFFERS ARE WELCOME. Looking to broker for my partner a win-win transaction that leaves everyone happy. I promise it will be an efficient, professional, and safe process for all parties involved.
Here is the original post I made not even a month ago in order to discover more about it:
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/285249-atari-cx-2000-val-prototype-information/