Seeking your opinion about the future of vintage HPs

[Namir]

Hi All,

I am curious to get your opinion. Foor how long do you think folks on this site and on the big auction site, will be interested in buying vintage HP calculators? Any forecast when that interest will begin to die out???

Namir

[Sylvain Cote]

My take is the distribution look something like this ...
196x-1972 Pioneers - desktop calculators
1972-1978 Early adopters (7 years) - Classic to Spice series
1979-1989 Mass adopters (11 years) - Spike to Pioneer series
1989-1995 Late adopters (7 years) - Pioneer to charlemagne series
1996-2014 No more high tech, computer/phones/tablets/etc have replaced them.

If we take a person at age 20 in ...
in 1972 (begin of the early adopter) will have 62 this year
in 1984 (middle of the mass adopter) will have 50 this year
in 1995 (end of the late adopter) will have 39 this year

I think the peak interest/prices will be between now
and 2029 (15y) and decreasing afterward.

This is to take with a grain of salt of course ;-)

Sylvain

[Thomas Radtke]

(01-17-2014 02:03 AM)Namir Wrote:  Any forecast when that interest will begin to die out???

When the last HP calculator died.

On a second thought - even then keys and cases might be interesting, now that we have inexpensive µCs and small of the shelf µC-boards like the Arduino nano models (my dead 25 waits for my retirement).

There's still interest in slide rules and Curtas, probably also to those who weren't born when they were new.

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

Fifteen to twenty years, I would think.

(01-17-2014 10:33 AM)Thomas Radtke Wrote:  There's still interest in slide rules and Curtas, probably also to those who weren't born when they were new.

Curtas are the big exception among slide rules and mechanical calculating machines, usually these things are not considered precious collector's items. About the Curta there have been magazine articles (e.g. In Scientific American and some collectors and vintage car magazines) making it known to people who usually are not interested in calculators.

Regards
Max

[Howard Owen]

I think HP's early calculators, especially the HP-35 and the HP-41, have intrinsic interest because of their places in calculator history. Also, buggy whips and baseball cards are all collectable today, along with a host of other items, mundane, kitschy or extraordinary. Calculators are no exception.

[Egan Ford]

(01-17-2014 02:03 AM)Namir Wrote:  Any forecast when that interest will begin to die out???

Hasn't that past? Isn't the interest already on the decline, if interest is measured by volume of people?

[Scottie]

(01-17-2014 02:03 AM)Namir Wrote:  Hasn't that past? Isn't the interest already on the decline, if interest is measured by volume of people?

I fear you may be right. How often do we see HPs calculators on store shelves as compared to TI and Casio? Not much, I'm afraid...

Scott