Stuff

[Greg Gore; WA1KBQ]

Two quick stories then I'll sign off this one. We were notified of a huge 
estate sale in Maryland about eight years ago, The well known and highly regarded 
ham was an advanced radio collector and historian and had put together the 
finest collection of vintage amateur and antique radio equipment that I have 
ever seen even to this day. He had managed to assemble a collection of several 
hundred pieces of vintage equipment many of which were from the 1930s and so 
rare most of us have only seen pictures of them. The news broke at a nearby 
Hamfest and almost immediately the widow started getting visits with offers to look 
(and buy) and help appraise the collection many of whom were former close 
friends of the SK. She was wise enough not sell anything that day but instead 
asked everyone who had stopped by to volunteer to put a price on everything and 
soon she began to see a trend. The SK's acquaintances were very eager to help 
her put price tags on everything and each one would lowball the particular 
items he was interested in but would put close to current market value on 
everything else. She caught on to what they were trying to do when no two wanted 
exactly the same items. I had been notified by the estate sale by a friend and I 
too was up there the following weekend (and made three more subsequent trips up 
from NC) and it was a real free for all at times but the savvy widow turned 
the situation around and it was impressive to watch her maintain control over 
the situation until every item was sold. 
The second story: I have two good friends (both ham extras) that I used to 
see quite often at all the local Hamfests. Both were really swell friends but 
each had a different philosophy concerning the buying and selling of ham radio 
equipment. At a particular Hamfest a while back there was an older fellow in 
the tailgate area with a very nice 75A-4. It was obvious to us he had not been 
to a Hamfest in a while nor kept up with the latest prices for vintage ham 
equipment. Now at that time a good 75A-4 in that serial number range with three 
filters was worth $800. My one friend, after being first to discover it, asked 
him "how much" and the older gentleman replied "$100!" My friend then started 
whining and complaining about the price and chiseled and hammered away at him, 
finally offering him $75 for it he bought it. I watched him carry it off with 
a huge grin of victory on his face. My other friend happened upon a similar 
situation at a following Hamfest and the older guy had something my other friend 
really wanted but it too was priced at some ridiculously low price. My other 
friend took the time to explain how the market had changed for that particular 
item and explained to him that he wanted it but asked him to reconsider 
selling it for something closer to the current value. He agreed to revise his price 
upwards and my other friend bought it. I always admired his integrity and to 
this day I count him among my best of friends. Folks like this restore your 
faith in your fellow man and hopefully when it comes time to find help in 
deciding how to dispose of a radio collection folks like this will still be around.

Regards, Greg

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