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Small estate sale collection score-homebrew computer projects, NCR keyboard plus bits and pieces

The cable and PCB look original to me, and look like the kind of thing punched card equipment had. Keys like "DUP", "REL" (release), "SKP", "NUM"/"LTR", and the locations of the digit keys all look very similar to original IBM keypunch devices. My suspicion is that this was either A) keypunch with a small memory, where the card is not punched until you're satisfied with all 80 columns; or else B) a non-paper device, perhaps using floppy disk or the like, but the UI is kept as close to cardpunches so that retraining of operators is not needed.
Yes, the cable (which is about 5-6ft) and cards are almost definitely original and besides the cable there is no other outputs, inputs or any other connector on the enclosure.

Here are some more pics, because why not?:
 

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Wow, that's crazy that you got them so cheaply but then again I got this lot for a pretty cheap price as well. I think I commented on your Mark 8 TVT post how envious I am of that score but I think if someone is going to get that level of stuff at a cheap price it should be you, you truly love these pieces and you share them in your videos with the world rather than just hoarding them away and bragging about them. And yeah, the prices things go for now are ridiculous, so it's hard to saw what's "cheap". I blame the sellers mostly, for the crazy prices, they are so freakin greedy and as a result they have shifted the pricing to a point where the average person, like I, can hardly even dream of picking up something like say, a Cosmac Elf, and even if I had the income to make the purchase I wouldn't because it's not worth the price to me. The only reason I have any kind of collection at all is because I spend my evenings searching through ebay for hidden gems, things that are either listed in a way that they won't come up in the usual searches or just things that no one cares about but me. My best score was a homebrew computer, in an enclosure with a keyboard, and it was an auction that no one but me bid on. It's from the mid 80s so it's not an early piece but it is one of my favorite pieces. Haven't really done anything with it yet, need to get a better computer so I can dump the eprom before I try to fire it up.

That's amazing, I was wondering why in the world they would design the keytops that way, I mean they look cool but they also look like they belongs on a preschooler's toy, lol. What brand was your keyboard? I didn't really find anything on deskthority besides your post about your keyboard. Dare I post a pic on deskthority and ask if anyone knows anything about them? 😬

Well, whenever I sell a piece I always use the money to purchase another piece that I want more, that way my collection gets better and better without spending much out of pocket money. I sold a couple pieces, namely a Cosmac Elf eprom programmer card and a RCA VP keyboard to fund this lot. I didn't really want to part with the keyboard but I felt I had to and besides I still have another RCA keyboard and an RCA color graphics terminal from the same series. Sorry, I don't get the chance to talk about this stuff much so when I do I go on, lol.....😄
Well, I guess the sellers only go for what they can get. I do reserve some contempt for estate salers.. ive helped a few out by correcting their descriptions... not that it matters much these days. But many dont even give a thank you... they just jack prices up way beyond the going rate. They dont care a whit about history or the hobby and have no problem parting stuff out for maximum $$. There are a lot of deep pocketed buyers out there, though, and they are mainly responsible for making everything so expensive. Plus there are buyers who unlike me are just focused on specific things and so they save up between purchases and have more money to throw at that one thing. I estimate my collection to be worth tens of thousands US at today's average prices.. kind of makes me wonder if I should get out while the getting is good..

The Mark8 and TVT were a total fluke.. two of my YT viewers pointed the auction for them out. They were together along with a modern random PCIe video card, and they looked pretty thrashed with boards loose, missing parts etc. Still I recognized the TVT as a real one. Then I saw the auction mentioned on reddit and a couple other places. I assumed it'd be like ebay where hard-core collectors would lie in wait and swipe them at the last second. There were multiple bids early on and the rest of the site seemed to be selling stuff well above ebay prices on average. I wasn't 100% sure the Mark-8 was real because the boards were so badly tarnished, but pretty sure. I put in a bid of $2k figuring I was going to lose no matter what and then basically carried on with my life. But when I checked in at the end there were no more bids and they went for nowhere near that much. It took so long to get a confirmation that I'd won that I assumed the site had glitched with competing bids and I'd actually lost.

I've been trying to 'trade up' also. I'm out of space and am starting to feel sheepish about how much I have. It's just that I've scored so many unique pieces it's hard to figure out what to let go.

My keyboard is Microswitch - I'm not 100% certain but I think based on photos it was used by Mohawk Data Sciences in a key to tape machine of theirs.
 
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Well, I guess the sellers only go for what they can get. I do reserve some contempt for estate salers.. ive helped a few out by correcting their descriptions... not that it matters much these days. But many dont even give a thank you... they just jack prices up way beyond the going rate. They dont care a whit about history or the hobby and have no problem parting stuff out for maximum $$. There are a lot of deep pocketed buyers out there, though, and they are mainly responsible for making everything so expensive. Plus there are buyers who unlike me are just focused on specific things and so they save up between purchases and have more money to throw at that one thing. I estimate my collection to be worth tens of thousands US at today's average prices.. kind of makes me wonder if I should get out while the getting is good..

The Mark8 and TVT were a total fluke.. two of my YT viewers pointed the auction for them out. They were together along with a modern random PCIe video card, and they looked pretty thrashed with boards loose, missing parts etc. Still I recognized the TVT as a real one. Then I saw the auction mentioned on reddit and a couple other places. I assumed it'd be like ebay where hard-core collectors would lie in wait and swipe them at the last second. There were multiple bids early on and the rest of the site seemed to be selling stuff well above ebay prices on average. I wasn't 100% sure the Mark-8 was real because the boards were so badly tarnished, but pretty sure. I put in a bid of $2k figuring I was going to lose no matter what and then basically carried on with my life. But when I checked in at the end there were no more bids and they went for nowhere near that much. It took so long to get a confirmation that I'd won that I assumed the site had glitched with competing bids and I'd actually lost.

I've been trying to 'trade up' also. I'm out of space and am starting to feel sheepish about how much I have. It's just that I've scored so many unique pieces it's hard to figure out what to let go.

My keyboard is Microswitch - I'm not 100% certain but I think based on photos it was used by Mohawk Data Sciences in a key to tape machine of theirs.
Funny you should say that about estate sellers, the seller I purchased this lot from actually seemed to really care about the lot and it's history, which was surprising for sure, and asked me to help him or her identify the radio items from the same estate, which I give them pretty much everything they needed to list them including suggested prices, which they were thankful for and I'm sure played a hand in the price they gave me for this lot, and fyi with the stuff that I ended up purchasing I didn't try to influence how they priced beyond giving some truthful examples of prices that similar items sold for, though I didn't realize the keyboard might be worth so much, I mean I knew that it might be worth a good bit and I paid more for that than anything else, but still... Anyway, the thing with sellers pricing anything that remotely belongs in the VC category so high is that most of the stuff never sells because most of it is not that desirable compared to what the price is and then the only things that do sell that are priced high are the highly sought after pieces and now that the prices are so high many people have given up on the "hobby" and what is left is those with a bunch of disposable income who want to spend it on whatever is the hip, collectible thing is to invest in (which I do think is how a lot of people see these purchases, as do I in a way). There are so many VC items on ebay that I would love to have but the prices are so high that they have really no chance of them ever selling for even half of the listed price. Whatever, we should try not to get too wrapped up in the nonsense and try to just focus on the items and their historical significance and just how cool the stuff is!

If you bid that much, on an auction, then you have nothing to feel guilty about, no matter how cheaply they went for. It's funny, I will see auctioned items that I am interested in go for less than what I would have bid often but then when I do bid there's always a bidder (probably you, lol!) who outbids me no matter how much I bid for, though I'm not putting in 2k bids so... I'm anxious to see your videos for those pieces. Btw, I saw your post on Youtube about your father, very sorry to hear about his passing.

I'm sure when you have a collection such as yours you begin to see some pieces that you were once excited about begin to seem boring and mundane compared to say, an og TVT and Mark 8.
 
Funny you should say that about estate sellers, the seller I purchased this lot from actually seemed to really care about the lot and it's history, which was surprising for sure, and asked me to help him or her identify the radio items from the same estate, which I give them pretty much everything they needed to list them including suggested prices, which they were thankful for and I'm sure played a hand in the price they gave me for this lot, and fyi with the stuff that I ended up purchasing I didn't try to influence how they priced beyond giving some truthful examples of prices that similar items sold for, though I didn't realize the keyboard might be worth so much, I mean I knew that it might be worth a good bit and I paid more for that than anything else, but still... Anyway, the thing with sellers pricing anything that remotely belongs in the VC category so high is that most of the stuff never sells because most of it is not that desirable compared to what the price is and then the only things that do sell that are priced high are the highly sought after pieces and now that the prices are so high many people have given up on the "hobby" and what is left is those with a bunch of disposable income who want to spend it on whatever is the hip, collectible thing is to invest in (which I do think is how a lot of people see these purchases, as do I in a way). There are so many VC items on ebay that I would love to have but the prices are so high that they have really no chance of them ever selling for even half of the listed price. Whatever, we should try not to get too wrapped up in the nonsense and try to just focus on the items and their historical significance and just how cool the stuff is!

If you bid that much, on an auction, then you have nothing to feel guilty about, no matter how cheaply they went for. It's funny, I will see auctioned items that I am interested in go for less than what I would have bid often but then when I do bid there's always a bidder (probably you, lol!) who outbids me no matter how much I bid for, though I'm not putting in 2k bids so... I'm anxious to see your videos for those pieces. Btw, I saw your post on Youtube about your father, very sorry to hear about his passing.

I'm sure when you have a collection such as yours you begin to see some pieces that you were once excited about begin to seem boring and mundane compared to say, an og TVT and Mark 8.
Not all estate salers are bad of course.. but the majority i've dealt with on ebay are hardly careful stewards of history, and some are downright awful to deal with. And yeah, it's frustrating when sellers stick an obscene price tag to something and then don't budge. It's their right - I just don't get what the point is exactly. Even vintagecomputermuseum seems to be getting the hint these days and has been lowering his prices to something approaching not a ripoff. TBH I wouldn't mind doing estate saling for vintage gear but Vancouver I think is too small and too new to have much of that kind of thing out there.

I haven't been bidding on very much lately - most of my 'grails' are in my possession now and the ones that aren't are either unobtainable (SCELBI) or I'm too cheap to lay out for (Lisa 1). We had to reorganize a bit during a renovation of our house and I actually got kind of embarrassed at how much I have. I never intended my collection to have any specific focus - in my head I wanted it to be like a really cool computer store and I'd just walk into a room and be surrounded with cool stuff. But then it got kind of out of hand. When you get over a hundred pieces or so there's the practical matter of having enough time to maintain and use. I think my last inventory had me over 300 pieces - it's to the point where I have a free hour and I'm like okay let's play with something... but then I spend 45 minutes just trying to decide what. If I weren't such a hoarder when it comes to this stuff I'd just sell it all, and then just have a few pieces I really want, along with a revolving door where I buy something, use it for a while, then sell, then buy something else. Just don't have the discipline!

The Mark-8 and TVT though i will not let go of until after the rigor mortis subsides. They are special in a way my other machines aren't - in that the owner is known and was documented in their participation at the earliest stage of home computing, and even had these machine featured in magazines. I got a copy of Kilobaud with a pic of the TVT coming... I mean, most of the time I don't even get an owner's name - it's coming 3rd or 50th party and nobody knows anything about it. Any time I can put a name to something I feel like that person is remembered and sort of lives again, in a sense. These I would like to see go to a museum when I join my father in the ether - I think they belong somewhere people can see em.

And thank you for your thoughts re my Dad. It still hasn't fully registered that I won't see him again. It truly changes everything in your life in a way.
 
The funky looking keyboard with NCR red logo looks like the one used on the Class 735 & 736 key to tape units. And another persons reply these were resold from Mohawk
 
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