Certain TV sets are now fetching high prices. On Ebay recently there was a Baird Model from late 60s (colour) which went for over a £1000.
A lot of the early sets are now being touted as "perfect for Retro Gaming" this means a large price hike for the set, especially if it's a Sony Trinitron with Scart. I am a fan of the continental sets from the 1970s, the likes of Telefunken, SABA and Nordmende. I also have a B&O 3400 and Philips K12 Chassis sets plus a couple of Sony sets. All these were well-designed both cosmetically and internally.
However, I have not been able to find any of these sets over several years of searching (Bar the B&O and the Sony) anywhere in the UK - They seem to have completely disappeared!! What happened to all the Tanbergs, Skantics and Telefunkens? So I had to resort to searching in Germany which was far more fruitful. Prices there are resoanble, the main cost is getting them here, and the difficulty arranging collection with language barriers and local buyers over there chasing them too. I have lost a few this way.
I have done this and have a fair collection, but it takes a lot of effort to arrange. Also, choice of courier is important. In the early days I used DHL, but 2 portables were smashed on arrival (CRTS OK though) and one guy actually sent me a 26" Telefunken by this method (a huge box), that did arrive undamaged externally, but it no longer worked. (not looked at that yet).
So it had a rough ride. I now use a private courier who takes care of these things and usually arrive safely. It would be easier if there were sets here in the UK though.
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I've been astounded by the prices of some of the TV's on eBay, I wonder who is buying them! Perhaps it just a perfect storm where the people who want them just have the disposable income available leading to temporary high prices of sets from that era. I believe the classic car market has similar trends.
When I was repairing domestic TVs in the early/mid nineties the oldest sets I ever saw were G11s and 9600s or similar and the occasional MK3 rediffusion, the oldest was actually an ITT CVC7 which I kept for a while before giving it away. So I guess any really old sets that turn up now must have been stored away for years.
I'm glad the A823 and the GEC sets offered this week have been claimed or I'd have been tempted myself as they are almost on my doorstep. I don't really have the space for lots of large screen TV's, so I'll have to be selective and look out for what I want. Given how rare these sets seem to be getting though, it would be a shame to see any go to WEE waste of landfill.
It is true that a few set's are rare and will fetch a considerable sum. Unfortunately with ebay, this has the effect of giving the impression that any old tv set is of high value. This could be because when you create a listing, it gives you the value of "similar" items that have sold. This means that if a 1967 Baird colour set goes for over a grand, then a tatty old common plastic portable from the 80's or 90's could be of similar value.
There are quite a number of sets that are listed on ebay right now, and have been there for some considerable time, at perhaps what could be said are up for "silly money". I regularly trawl ebay and see the same old set's week in, week out at prices that just make me laugh. I often think to myself "Hey, if you knocked off a zero, it might be more realistic".
To understand the black art of electronics is to understand witchcraft. Andrew.
Mod Advice: Fixed the presentation of this post, it retained the prior formatting from UKVRRR where it was copied from. If you are pasting info from another forum, you need to use the "paste as text" tool which is on the editor toolbar (the clipboard before the emoticon). Clicking the "paste as text" first and then pasting your content, will remove all prior formatting. Failure to do so will result in the mess that was present, in your case it tried to also copy over the UKVRRR online status indicator and table formatting. Hope that helps for future reference ?
Hello Mods
Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.
Regards
Paul
