First post, by jklaiho
Some Finnish guy is selling a metric buttload of old IBM hardware on a local marketplace: 21 PS/2 machines, 5 PS/1s; a mixture of desktop and tower cases, even one laptop. There's 23 displays, and IBM mice and keyboards for all of them. All have been retired from use at least 20 years ago, and somehow have survived until now, probably held in a storeroom of a large office somewhere. The lot looks very clean and neat based on the pictures provided, which would make sense in a single owner corporate scenario.
The asking price is 3,000 euros, but the seller requires a purchase of the whole set, including picking them up and transporting them away, which will require a large van and a not-insignificant amount of padding and protection. All in all, a huge undertaking. No way to tell beforehand how many devices are still in working order.
Generally speaking, is this hardware in any demand among collectors? I could just barely arrange warm, dry storage for the whole lot, temporarily. I'd only hold on to a few of these myself, and try to sell the rest. International shipping is prohibitively expensive, so basically I'd be reliant on domestic buyers—a niche group in a niche nation of 5.5 million people... MAYBE some particularly enthusiastic Swedish, Estonian or Russian buyers might make the journey to pick some up.
Thoughts? Am I crazy for even considering this?
