What to do with my Collection?

[PeterP]

Its been a long time since I was here, learning about math puzzles, MCODE, and repairing 9114As. Over the last few days I enjoyed reading some of the amazing stuff that continues to happen here (thank you Dave for this wonderful forum!), I even got to see some of the videos from the last few HHCs. So much impressive work.

Alas, I have to figure out what to do with my collection. Over the years, I've put together quite a bit of HP41, HP71, and HP-IL related pieces, many of which are common place (complete collection of HP41 Solution books), others are a bit more rare (NIB Hepax, EPROM Burner for HP-71). I even have some non 41/71 related stuff (complete voyager boxed series, HP75s, etc)

Right now, all of them are just sitting in boxes, neither getting care nor play, and with me moving all the time around, it is unlikely this will change anytime soon.

So I thought I come back to my place of home for anything HP related and ask for suggestion on what to do. I wish I had the time to sell everything piece by piece on eb&*, but if I had that time I think I would much rather dig up some old restoration or MCODE project. I also don't know of any museum that would actually make good use of it, or have the space to display at least the top parts of my collection and sell as a bundle on eb&* or something.

As you can tell, I'm lost.

So I'm turning to you as a trusted source of advice. Looking forward to getting your suggestions, feel free to also DM me.

All the best

PeterP

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello Peter,

personally, even with no time nor present interest, I would just keep it. In the current economic situation money in the bank gets no interest while the prices of vintage calculators are rising steeply. There are not many better investments right now than a collection of calculators. Real estate maybe, but that requires several orders of magnitude more capital...

In terms of museums I can not think about anything right now. 1980ies and later stuff is not really old enough for that. Maybe the computer science department of a university might display it in a showcase (which you would have to supply as they usually have no budget for things like that) but they rather go for core memories and teletypes.

Regards
Max

[Gene]

Hi Peter!

Time flies since you came to the HHC conference what... nearly 10 years ago now?

I guess it depends as you said on how much time you have and how much you want to get for it or how much happiness you would get from a smaller amount of cash combined with knowing it went to a good home(s).

(wild formatting edited out)

[hp41cx]

Make a listing of everything you would like to trade or donate.
I'll post one item a week on Ebay or here.

[Jurgen Keller]

• Keep the stuff (make sure no batteries are installed in calcs); maybe you'll find some time for MCODE projects in the long-term
• Donate the stuff to a museum provided that somebody can suggest a good one
• Let someone sell the stuff for you
  

[Guenter Schink]

HHC2018 is in need of door prizes

Günter

[PeterP]

Thanks guys, appreciate the help. I like the approach of

1. Keep some items I care especially about, hope the value goes up, maybe find a show case in one of our offices
2. Find a partner who - of course for a hefty fee - finds home for majority of collection (if you want to help here, please DM me)
3. Think about HHC and door prices, maybe some of the more obscure items?
   

It was already pointed out to me that I should probably have a list of items. Duh, Peter, yes you do. Working on this right now...

Again, thanks for everyone's advice, I'll keep you in the loop in the coming months on how things develop.

And if you have more thoughts, please do let me know!

PeterP

[Dave Frederickson]

(10-26-2017 10:20 PM)PeterP Wrote:  [*]Find a partner who - of course for a hefty fee - finds home for majority of collection (if you want to help here, please DM me)

Hi Peter,

Please clarify. Does the partner receive a hefty fee for finding a buyer or does the partner pay a hefty fee for a majority of the collection?

A couple of years ago I found a buyer for a large 71B collection, most of which was later sold on eBay. The collection included an EPROM burner which one of our members bought for half of what he would have paid.

I'm looking forward to seeing your list.

Dave

[PeterP]

Sorry for not being clear - whoever helps me of course receives a hefty fee. However I think we should take this now offline as it starts to veer into category-mismatch potentially...

Cheers

PeterP

[HP-Collection]

Yeah, Peter is back!!!
Cu in 2018 in Allschwil

[aj04062]

Hi Peter,

PM sent. I am willing to help you go through all of this. Let me know.

Adam

[PeterP]

UPDATE - As per the (very smart) suggestion by one of our fellow forum members, I have started to just catalog what is in the collection.

This has turned out to be more time consuming than I would have imagined.

For those that want to follow along, please find a link here to Peter's Collection

I'm about 65% done, especially my almost 100 feet of literature will take a bit of extra time. Also, quite a bit more HP 41 MLDL and IL devices and parts coming. However, I don't think I will catalog every single module holder, IL cable, etc.

And, as also some of you have predicted, doing this has reignited a lot of the dormant lying love for these wonderful devices, yet even more so for this truly special community. I had forgotten what it meant to me, thank you for reminding me.

Nonetheless, I will be parting with virtually all of my collection, keeping just a small portion Just enough so that I can play, program, explore, and learn again from all of you.

Cheers

Peter

[Jurgen Keller]

(10-30-2017 04:12 AM)PeterP Wrote:  For those that want to follow along, please find a link here to Peter's Collection

Looks like a copy of my X-mas wish list!

[Ángel Martin]

(10-30-2017 04:12 AM)PeterP Wrote:  UPDATE - For those that want to follow along, please find a link here to Peter's Collection

Hi Peter, I was wondering if you'd share the ROM images of the items still not included in the CL library. As you know I've always been a strong supporter of sharing the knowledge among the community. I think I've seen a few ROMS listed in your inventory that are not available yet. I'm also sure many people will feel grateful (me the first one).

Best,
ÁM

[Dave Frederickson]

I'll volunteer to scan any of the 100 feet of literature not already in an archive.

Dave

[PeterP]

@Angel and @Dave - excellent comments, we should totally think about ways how to get both the ROM images and the literature accessible to the community.

Maybe whoever is the new owner of the collection can help with this!

[I'm scared of spending too much time with the collection myself. I think it is highly infectious. And my immune system has already been substantially weakened through this process, and is at risk of breaking down, especially in the case of some items that were particularly hard to find and add to the collection...]

Cheers

Peter

[HP-Collection]

My offer is still the same: If I get the ROMS for a reasonable price (and not getting outbid) the images will be free for anybody in the community.

[PeterP]

I started to make some pictures, not item by item, but for those that enjoy pictures, you can find them Here (Images for Peter's Collection)

I started to catalog my literature as well and realized I had quite a few manuals as well, not all of which I know where to find them online. So I'm thinking about how to change that.

And I couldn't help myself and will get a CL (plus a few as Christmas presents), it simply is too awesome a machine. Now I just have to learn how to connect it to a Mac, and clone take-over roms, especially the diagnostic roms. Wouldnt it be fun to dive into that MCODE?

So glad I will be traveling for next 4 weeks, so I can look, but I cant touch...

Enjoy the pictures, I'll keep updating the list as well as folder with images as I complete the census.

Cheers

Peter

[Dave Frederickson]

Hi Peter,

Pics 3 and 4 are labeled "CMT EPROM Programmer", but it doesn't look like one I've seen before. It's pictured with a CMT MC-II which does accept a Pod. Could it be the Pod?

Dave

[Sylvain Cote]

(11-09-2017 02:45 AM)Dave Frederickson Wrote:  Pics 3 and 4 are labeled "CMT EPROM Programmer", but it doesn't look like one I've seen before. It's pictured with a CMT MC-II which does accept a Pod. Could it be the Pod?

Dave,
If I remember correctly, it is the EPROM programmer for the CMT MC-II EPROM modules.
As you have assumed, it connect to the port extension in the back of the MC-II.
I used one in the 80's to burn my MC-II C applications on EPROM's.
I do not remember if a software was needed to do the burning thought.
Sylvain