scarcity fetishists

[mr_me]

In 1991 people said it was stupid when a baseball card sold for $451k.  In 2007 that exact same card sold for $2.8M.

Edited August 12, 2019 by mr_me

[CatPix]

Well it's just 6 times more stupid ?

[Silverfleet]

As a collector and historian, I like seeing sealed, mint stuff still being found out there. I mean, it's pretty awesome to see these old games, still brand new in their shrink wrap, being unearthed and cherished. The absurd amount of money being paid for those games, the grading, and all that is pure insanity. As dumb as it is to many of us, it's almost entertaining to see how much someone will overpay for games like these. If some guy wants to drop $9,000 on a copy of Kid Icarus, that's their problem! ?

 

That said, I have a bunch of sealed games in my collection that started out as backlog games that are becoming collector's items, some of them being on the rare side, mostly PS2/GC/Xbox stuff. I almost want to just leave them sealed at this point as conversation pieces. I can always get a cheap loose copy of said game to play if I ever get the urge to play them.

[Lost Monkey]

I have a couple opened Froggo games. Probably a lot rarer than sealed ones...

[Keatah]

The air inside my 345MB HDD is original and the exact same as when I installed Doom in 1993. I know. I taped over the vent hole when I put the drive in long-term storage after a planned upgrade. There is no other hard disk like it in the world. How much can I get if I do an eBay auction?

 

My 486 is also unique and extremely rare, no other computer is exactly like it in the entire world. It has a small scratch on the back about 2" from the power supply fan and 1" up on the diagonal.  I can assure you (and will authenticate via professional grading) you are getting a one-of-a-kind PC. No other system will have this marking.

 

Edited August 12, 2019 by Keatah

[VectorGamer]

Spent $2,650 for something that's going to sit in a locked display case. Could've spent that money on a decent pinball machine - something that could actually be of enjoyment.

 

"Hey c'mon over have a few beers and stare at my sealed Donkey Kong Country" said nobody ever. Terards...

[Tanooki]

I'll admit as much it seems nice watching a new one pop up of something 30-40 years old, why not?  And it's almost amusing watching the foolish pay 3, 4, 5 figures for such things.  Yet the problem isn't how they spend their money, it's the ripple effect from spending that money has an impact that's very far reaching beyond that item because you know what?  It's not a walled garden on price.  That Wata/HA auction for SMB that hit over $10k, the other day it got repeated on ebay for another that popped up, and they did nothing in that universe of value previously.  But the ripple I'm thinking of, and it seems to be plausible, it's spread.

 

I don't blame them or the game, or the dumb buyer wanting something that cherry, but I blame the media and the speculators.  The more and more people get into not the games or even caring about them, but get into the press talking how something is now valued at this, this WILL sell for that and so on causes the dregs of society to flock.  In the last two months as I often keep tabs on all sorts of stuff of any interest as I still part with pieces of my collection and dump stuff I find so I can afford things still too.  The prices on stuff since all the recent media exposure across many levels has jumped, annoyingly.  Nearly unrelated other than Nintendo, the 101 style SPs stock or modded so have jumped a lot, a boxed SP 101 is like $200 now, wasn't anywhere near that 2mo ago, or a modded one with a 101 inside is well up near that realm too which is crazy as just a single vague example.  And while I could dismiss it if it were another season, summer sucks for sales, they don't boom, so what gives?  I think the fetishists going for high dollar is rippling down into the pond most us play into.

[jhd]

 

One issue with an arbitrarily assigned "value" for an object is finding a purchaser willing to pay that. My Father had a modest coin collection worth, he thought, a large amount. When he decided to sell it to fund a significant new purchase, he was shocked to discover that nobody was willing to pay the book value for his collection. The value on paper was meaningless.

 

Personally, my main collecting interest is books -- not rare books, fine bindings, or first editions -- just titles that I actually want to read. I would be surprised if there is more than a small handful of people actively collecting in the same field as I am. Once or twice I have encountered individuals trying to make money as resellers, but given that so very few titles are significantly rare or valuable (and one is never going to find incunabula at a flea market or thrift shop) it is hardly worth the effort. Consequently, there are no price guides and the market is very stable. I have no idea of the "value" of my collection, and I frankly do not care.  

 

[Keatah]

A seller in the article pulled a random high price out of her ass and labeled the cartridge, and it sold or had immediate offers. It would NOT have interest had it been shown with a "regular" price.

 

Most of these rich collectors simply look for high dollar amounts first and foremost. THEN grade and evaluate and discover the merchandise details. It's a filter.

Edited August 13, 2019 by Keatah

[Newsdee]

On 8/11/2019 at 7:52 AM, mr_me said:

Yes and no about software emulation.  With some accuracy is the goal, others are hacks that leave you with a poor simulation of the original.  

This is why I am a big fan of FPGA devices. Many people involved are using the real hardware as benchmark and major cores have become really good in terms of accuracy, both in commercial and open source offerings.

 

Software emulation did a great job preserving the software (games etc) and now FPGAs are preserving the hardware more and more accurately.

Edited August 14, 2019 by Newsdee