Name Computers and Accessories that have kept their value

As we all know, 99% of vintage computers depreciate in value over time. I thought it would be neat to have a list of computers and devices/peripherals that have maintained or increased in value since their initial release (disregarding inflation).

I'll start...

1. Apple I computer. Initial price: $666.66. Current price: $200,000+
2. Apple IIGS Accelerator cards: Transwarp GS and ZipGSX. Initial price: $400 and $150 respectively. Current price: $300-500.
3. Apple II High Speed SCSI cards. Initial price: $130-250. Current Price: $200-400

Figure in inflation and those prices look much worse.

I have seen those IIgs parts go for much less then you have listed, plus if you look at what $400 could buy when the Transwap GS was new compared to what it can buy now (because of inflation) you would see it has not kept its value.

That $200K Apple I sold for $40K on ebay which was more then any of the other units have ever sold for. Granted it is worth more then the original price but don't over inflate its value.

I know of some rare games that have sold for many times their original price, but not that much in the way of hardware.

Unknown_K said:

I have seen those IIgs parts go for much less then you have listed, plus if you look at what $400 could buy when the Transwap GS was new compared to what it can buy now (because of inflation) you would see it has not kept its value.

Click to expand...

The price of the IIGS parts is no exaggeration, it's the average I've seen over the past few months. Heck, the last IIGS accelerator sold for $599.99. Completely agree about inflation, but since the value of the dollar changes practically all the time, I left it out of the equation.

I think we have gone over this quite a bit on the forums, one ebay price point doesn't realy give you an idea of the value of an item. If you want my Transwarp GS I will sell it to you for $499.99 and you can run out and make that $100 profit while I go run out and buy another for a couple hundred and pocket the difference (mine was $10 complete inside a IIgs case if you are curious).

If we can take 1 price point in history into account I guess a 68040/50 with cache CPU upgrade for a NEXT machine went for $900 or so a few years back, pretty sure they were nowhere near that new when the company that made then went under (Newer technologies I think it was).

PS. This system sold with a GS Transwarp in a system and included the original Transwarp box and lit for $404 :
http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-iiGS-computer-7-MHz-TransWarp-GS-card-install-/170652618078
No idea what that card with the ribbon cable is (scsi?).

Didn't think about the NEXT machine. That does seem pretty crazy high. Of course it is getting harder and harder to find certain parts for that machine, being such a unique system.
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Nice find on the IIGS with transwarp. I sometimes get lucky and find unassuming IIGSes on CL with lots of goodies under the hood.

Another obscure system that has retained its value is the HP 700LX. Only seen it appear twice on ebay, over $500 both times. No idea what it retailed for back in the day though, but hard to imagine it was much over that.

Some 3rd party upgrades are pretty rare these days. If you wanted one bad back in the day then you will probably have to pay quite a bit to get it now. That CPU caught my eye because it was being sold by a guy who had CPU upgrades for old 68K macs which I collect. Very few 68K mac upgrades will ever be worth more then list price (you have to see what companies charged for mac items in the late 80's and early 90's). Some Amiga upgrade CPUs might be approaching list price (PPC upgrades for one). Hardware in general is never a good investment (if purchased new).

The Transwarp (and the IIgs it came with) were on their way to get scrapped when I offered $10 for it. The person who had it got it with a bunch of other junk from a guy he sold a refurbed machine too (people tend to dump old junk on him) and he just wanted it gone or trashed (having no idea anything over 5 yerars old is worth anything). Some recycling places have no idea anything vintage can be special unless it makes it into the news (or there is gold in it, they love 486 chips). I also have luck with "broken" items that tend to not be broken, that saves me a bunch of cash. You can still find decent deals outside of ebay, if you like to hunt locally.

Some European micros that may fit the bill:

Sinclair ZX-80, at least if it comes still unassembled in kit form
Jupiter Ace, some or all models

I read in an old computer magazine that around 1984, a UK company that bought the surplus stock of then liquidated Jupiter Cantab, sold those Ace's brand new for about £30 each. If one would have known those would become very rare 25 years later, it had been almost as good investment to buy 10 of those and keep them stored in boxes at a safe place as putting the money on the stock market, even considering inflation. Of course the Jupiter Ace originally cost far more than £30 so it is a bit unfair comparison.

There are even more obscure home computers that quite possibly would match their original retail price, at least if compete in box in near mint condition. I'm unsure about the somewhat larger machines of early release. Although they tended to be a bit pricy from the start, counting in raw dollars most of them will be worth more today but it might be a close call after you consider inflation.

I find that any Daystar upgrade you find now sells for totally mad amounts of money when they appear on ebay and they don't do that often.
Another upgrade is the NeXT Dimension color video board for the cube. I have been offered a DOA unit for $300 and seen working boards sell for between $500-$1000.

APF Imagination Stations, I stumbled across 2 unknown condition ones, and got 750 for them.

Later,
dabone

Not sure about the original price but seems like Catweasel and almost DOB boards have a healthy steady price (Although I'm sure maybe they were $400 at some point but they regularly still sell for $100s while the catweasel new runs exactly the same price).

Tougher than I thought other than the rarities Altair and IMSAI are both pretty much inflated from original cost. Kenbak-1 of course. But all of these deflated still so it's not that they truly kept their value, it was just waiting with a what-if for 30 years.

The Roland LAPC-I dropped anywhere from USD 25 to 225 from its Sierra catalog price and sells from USD 200 tot 400 at this point in time. The catalog price was USD 425 in the 1990s.

I got a pentium 3 and still work perfectly fine.

A couple of years ago, I sold a Micro Solutions Compaticard IV NIB on eBay for around $300. New, we paid about $100 for them. I suspect that a MatchPoint card would sell for about as much also. given its rarity. Said CC IV was one of a carton of 6 that I had kicking around. The remainder sold for about $150 each (private sale).

When you get into industrial gear, it's not unusual for a part to sell for more than it originally cost.

Voodoo 5 6000? Even though it eventually never retailed, people pay hundreds of bucks for a defective board.