ScuzzBlog: Diaries November 2017 Entry 28th November 2017: Post: 1 I can never find anything here !!! One of my duties as junior in the first office I worked in was to do the stamp run when the new stamps came out. I would have to take orders from everyone in what was a very large office and then stand in queue the next day as the post office opened to get all the stamps. You would think that would be easy... It was not. Did you know that stamp collectors collect... wait for it... mint, mint finely used, presentation packs, gutter pairs. traffic light gutter pairs, blocks of four, first day covers and even whole sheets or half sheets. And this happened with every stamp released and that includes all the definitives. And why.. to reduce the odds on having a rare. I tried it myself for a few years but gave up. So what is the point. Well I call it the Barbie conundrum. Take a basic kids doll say Barbie or Action Man. What are the odds that a child will 'not' open the box. Further, what are the odds that they won't destroy the box including all the clips, toggles and inner packaging. What are the chances that the box will remain in good condition and remain undamaged... forget the doll or action figure. The point being in all cases that you increase dramatically the rarity and value of something by keeping all the packaging. Only mint stamp collectors buy intentionally the goods without ever intending to use them. And so to computers and boxes. I would love to have collected in my time mint boxed computers. But with machines being so rare you have to take what is offered. If you waited for a mint A4000T to become available complete with all its packaging and books and receipt and also 'unopened' ever, you will wait like for ever and ever and ever and ever. The trick was to buy two when new ( mint and finely used in stamp terms ) and put the one in storage and be very careful how you use the other. The point being that in the end the box becomes the most valuable item in your collection. I spent an eternity tracking down a polystyrene cheese that held the modulator in an A500 box. In the end I actually travelled to a persons house to collect the box. They were pretty shocked when I told them I only needed the polystyrene insert. I have spent ages putting back together boxed sets of C64 presentation sets. Inside would have been a specific set of games all in a special box. You would be amazed at how many boxed sets of computers do not have the correct contents. In a hundred years from now a wealthy businessman will pay a small fortune, probably millions for a boxed Desktop Dynamite machine complete with books, all the leaflets, receipt etc all mint. He/she will not buy an A1200 unit on its own. And so you see the box is everything. I have tried to get boxes but fear I have like less than 5% in reasonable condition. The bigger problem for any collector of computers is finding the space to store the stuff. As I will now discuss. I kick myself now cus in truth I should have simply carried on saving stamps. Last night's problem OK I was trying to complete my Amstrad review and check the computers I have and sadly again had lost two small units. The Notepad and Notebook. Scratching my head as to where they were. I also want to put together a page on the luggables and need to find one or two of those. I have been struggling to find an A500 motherboard and also a boxed Acorn Pocket Book. Nothing for it sadly but to go venturing deep into the larger of my store areas to find these items. You would think I knew where it all was but sadly not. Its always a trial and always it seems late at night. Here goes nothing..... I make no apologies for the state of boxes. Like I say its the way they came. Wish it were different That's a Famicom Disk System there Most of the items are on sturdy shelves I hate stacking boxes. They always get damaged Up the ladders and looking down see what I am searching for. A can see the Sharp but not the Amstrads Half these things I have never used Atari boxes are always so big No luck there Looks like I have to peel away some of the layers Nope Mouse Pad and really really old mouse OK fish the camera down the gaps and see if I can see the Amstrads Took me ages to store the stuff Some boxes are more obvious than others as to the contents inside Always tempted to open up... Resist A PS1 control connector. Looks like the Terminator's arm stranded and lost. I have no idea what is in that box That's the Aquarius I was looking for How do I get that out I have a feeling that is a BBC in that box Struggling with the camera between boxes That's an Evesham classic PC on the left XBOX v Playstation.. Always look after your boxes. Very important So many Toshiba MSX units Checkmate Need to remember where I kept the Enterprise. I have two... The Toshiba also came in a kit box Losing sight of my challenge here OK at this point I found the two Amstrads they were behind that Yamaha [ silver thing ] I also found the A500 motherboard albeit I realise now that the board is a broken one and the Plus that was in the box got used. Never mind Two seriously amazing bits of kit there Think I've found everything now OK this is what I recovered. The Sharp PC7221.. sadly the screen has degraded and the battery is flat. No longer boots The Amstrad Notebook and Notepad , both appeared to be working fine. The Acorn Pocket Book that needs some batteries. The Aquarius plus a memory pack. The A500 motherboard which I will check but I think is broken. And a box of MS DOS 2.1 which I have been looking for. It's an IBM with an orange screen The face is that guy from All Creatures Great and Small I think... Robert Hardy dunno I collected the IBM and spent a very pleasant afternoon with a most interesting and informative computer enthusiast. His IBM luggable is still working An old version of Word.... So funny... I tried to play Solitaire on the orange screen of the IBM but all the cards were the same colour. Anyway I blew out the candle and went to bed. Leaving all the computers to have fun on their own no doubt.

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Last updated 28/11/2017

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