Poll: Are Spice series harder to get (online)?

Maximilian Hohmann · 01-09-2023, 11:26 AM

Hello,

in my opinion it is getting harder to find _any_ vintage calculator in decent condition. "Spices" were never easy to find, at least not here in Europe, where they cost a multiple of the then already abundant competition products and were therefore only sold in small numbers. At the time they were made (ca. 1978-1983) I was at school and university and surrounded with pocket calculators. But I have never actually seen a "Spice" calculator until I bought one for my collection 20 years later.

Add to that the lowest build quality one can imagine (thin and brittle plastic, solderless connections throughout, zero protection against battery leakage) and it is no wonder that only very few survive to this day. I think I bought most of my "Spice" series calculators from eBay between maybe 2000 and 2005 and it really took several years, already then, until I found a working specimen of each model at a decent price. Not very much has changed since then, apart from the fact that even the cosmetically good ones are now mostly sold "for parts or restauration"...

Regards
Max

Poll: Are Spice series harder to get (online)? This poll is closed.
Yes, they are as common as breathing	0	0%
Yes, but you have to wait for a good deal (as usual)	6	42.86%
Yes, but you need to persevere	3	21.43%
No, they are hard to find (even in bad condition)	5	35.71%
Total	14 votes	100%