Price Check on IBM 5150 Package

[lyonadmiral]

I posted this here but I didn't want to pollute the rest of the forum with that I thought might be trivial.

I spent the last 18 months putting together a rather nice conversation piece and I'd just like to get an idea of what it could be worth, knowing that the answer to that question is highly subjective to many variables, I'm looking to get opinions of others here.

IBM 5150 Rev B. System Unit
256k on System Board
256k IBM Memory Expansion Card
2 x 360k IBM branded Tandon Drives
IBM Floppy Controller
IBM EGA without RAM expansion
IBM Extender Card for 5161

IBM 5152 Graphics Printer

IBM 5153 Color Display

IBM 5161 Expansion Unit
Reciever Card
Xebec Rev 2 Controller
IBM 10 MB Hard Disk (Seagate)
IBM 10 MB Hard Disk (Western Digital)
IBM Game Controller
IBM Async Controller Adapter
IBM Parallel Adapter
IBM Parallel/B&W Adapter

IBM DOS 1.1, 2.0, 2.1, & 3.3 (3 ring binder versions with media)
IBM Writing Assistant
IBM Filing Assistant
IBM Visicalc 1.2
IBM Pool Challenges
IBM Fixed Disk Organizer

3 boxes of 360k floppy disks (2 are IBM, 1 is 3M)

The only non IBM component is the Backpack 3.5" External Disk Drive.

I appreciate your opinions guys.

Thanks,
D

 

[g4ugm]

1) Condition is everything.

2) Might be worth more parted than together. Expansion Units with cards and cables are rare.

3) Being totally complete may actually limit the market. That takes up a lot of space and is pretty un-typical of what was used in the day.

In the end its has two values. If you are selling its worth what some one will pay, Its rare to have such a complete system but as I have said there is so much it may have limited appeal.

The second value is an insurance value, which is what it would cost to replace. Given the rarity of some items you may struggle to replace them at all so much higher than what it would sell for. I suggest that you search E-Bay for "Sold Items" and see what you think. Then compare with "completed listings" which will show unsold items. If you are replacing then under insurance then these are the prices you may end up paying....

.

 

[lyonadmiral]

Thanks for the feedback g4ugm. There is slight discoloration, rust colored, on a section of the cover of the expansion unit otherwise everything else is mint. I'd prefer to hang on to it, but money talks these days. I'd sell it for $2,000 professionally packed, and shipping anywhere in the U.S., I'd ship internationally but shipping will cost significantly more.

 

[g4ugm]

I personally think that's topside of what you might get but I am not buying or selling. If you want to sell put an ad in the "for sale" section on here, or list it on E-Bay with a suitable reserve, or approach a specialist collections site....

 

[Maverick1978]

I'm in agreement with $2000 being the topside value. A rev B 5150 is pretty common. 5153 monitors are relatively common (though getting them delivered intact is always fun). 5152 printers are common. The true rarity here is the expansion chassis and cards.

I'd expect that parted out you'll get more cash than trying to sell everything as a lot, but I wouldn't expect more than $1200 or so for the whole shebang, parted out or not.

That said... condition and completeness are everything, as is patience. If you didn't mind sitting on it for awhile, you might just get the asking price from a museum or wealthy individual.

 

[Trixter]

3) Being totally complete may actually limit the market.

Seconded. This is lost on many collectors/enthusiasts. Someone on this forum a while ago was frustrated that his decked-out 5150 wasn't selling -- 3.5" drives with 1.44MB compaticard, IDE drive, EMS board, etc. It was a very souped-up 5150. It also looked like Frankstein's monster (black and beige faceplates, mix of stock+homebrew parts). He had essentially customized his system out of any viable market.

Most collectors today are looking for one of three things:

1. A crazy cheap deal on a "workhorse" machine (in which case a frankensystem is perfectly acceptable)
2. A fully stock, show-quality system for display only
3. Loose parts to ressurect their existing systems

Your all-IBM setup falls under #2 and Maverick1978 pretty much nailed some good advice to you:

I'm in agreement with $2000 being the topside value...The true rarity here is the expansion chassis and cards....I wouldn't expect more than $1200 or so for the whole shebang, parted out or not....If you didn't mind sitting on it for awhile, you might just get the asking price from a museum or wealthy individual.

It's a shame there is no IBM-branded memory expansion that would give you 384KB, because 808x systems are most useful when you can upgrade them all the way to 640KB.