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Value of brand new, unopened Commodore PET 2001-8N found in basement

SiriusHardware said:
Another thing about finding them in their original packing - it's not just the case that they are much more likely to survive in onward transit, they are more likely to have survived in storage as well. I have seen quite a few PET resurrection cases where the machines clearly must have been kept in a damp shed for decades and have suffered greatly as a result. If they are still in the original boxes you know they have been kept dry and dust free for pretty much the whole of their lives. That is something I would pay more for. (But I'm in the UK here, so I can only dream on).

Anyway, that's a truly fantastic find, I'm sure all of those machines will fetch well above average prices for the lady, and it's good that she has a friendly, decent guy looking out for her.
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I was shocked how in great condition everything is. Truly a testament to good packaging! I don't want to overcharge anyone for it. Like I said, the lady was going to take all of these to electronics recycling so I really just want them going to a good home where someone would appreciate them while giving her a little extra money for living out the rest of her life.
 
prowler said:
An unboxing video might be cool. I don't know if anyone has done one for a PET (too lazy to check).

Why are all the rare finds always in some remote place like Alaska or Texas? :D
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Upon closer inspection, the tops of the boxes were open so I'm guessing he opened them when he got them just to make sure nothing looked broken. Doesn't look like he did much else, though. I have only opened up 3 of the 5 boxes I have found so far. Maybe I will try to video one of the others just for fun.
 
NeXT said:
In the box with all the original packaging, shipping plastic and paperwork?

Someone's gonna take what I say for a price and run with it (and to all future people reading this post, I'm sorry...) but I dare say it starts at $2000cad, with the two critical points being it's essentially NOS and it's working. I've never seen a PET this old that "It Just Works." MOS's chips age horribly.

As of this post it seems the going ebay price (note we are factoring in that ebay is a lot more visible than say, the vcfed marketplace and thus there's more people roaming around with deeper pockets willing to blow it on the first system they see will skew the results so OP, don't think you're about to win a lottery) is $800usd for a chiclet PET that is as-is, $900-$1500 for a chiclet that is clean and working at the time of sale.

Non-chiclet PET's seem to go for substantially less. Between $350 and $850usd, depending on condition and again, if it's working at the time of sale.
You can make a dead PET work with aftermarket parts, but either you are gonna spend a ton on aftermarket chip substitutes and adapters or a substantial sum sourcing exact replacements like the folks building up Apple I replicas. Comes down to if you prefer a working machine over originality. (or if you want to use a keyboard that you won't hate after a few days ;) )

On that note, I'd like to thank Space Lab in Vancouver for selling me my machine for such a pleasant price. Some people are not looking for an easy paycheck. :)

The big variable however is this is all in Alaska. It's amazing how someone can empty their wallet for something, then be total cheapskates when it comes to paying for shipping. For reference several times a year for $JOB I'm shipping cartons about the size of a boxed PET and weighing around 53lbs to Whitehorse via courier and that's nearly $400cad one-way.
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$2000 seems wildly high. Hoping I can find a couple local buyers for maybe half that. Again, I just want them to go somewhere where they're wanted. I am flying to California in December. Someone told me to package one of the boxes up really well as a checked bag so they can buy it from me down there. What is the consensus on that? Would it be totally stupid? Airline baggage might be a little rough..
 
rhyoraptor said:
$2000 seems wildly high. Hoping I can find a couple local buyers for maybe half that. Again, I just want them to go somewhere where they're wanted. I am flying to California in December. Someone told me to package one of the boxes up really well as a checked bag so they can buy it from me down there. What is the consensus on that? Would it be totally stupid? Airline baggage might be a little rough..
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I think with the original packing being so good, you could check that through as over-sized airline luggage, and it would probably be ok. No worse than any other shipping method, probably better as there are less steps involved and "Every stage in the shipping is equivalent to throwing the item down one flight of stairs"
 
I've seen Blue Label chicklet PETs sell for as high as $2K but not often. Never a late model version like these are.
Based on the SN# labels I'd say these are very late '78 or '79

A '78 with the C2N drive like this one would usually go for $700-$1000 but add another $200-$300 for the paperwork and packaging and maybe a bit more for the safer shipping and package deal.
Just guessing based on tracking eBay sale prices over the last few years, but there are always anomalies depending on how bad the buyer wants one.
 
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All that being said, I believe a true 'dyed-in-the-wool collector' would gladly give big bucks for a Pet in its original packaging. It's just like stamps, coins, or any thing else.
 
Hutch said:
I've seen Blue Label chicklet PETs sell for as high as $2K but not often. Never a late model version like these are.
Based on the SN# labels I'd say these are very late '78 or '79

A '78 with the C2N drive like this one would usually go for $700-$1000 but add another $200-$300 for the paperwork and packaging and maybe a bit more for the safer shipping and package deal.
Just guessing based on tracking eBay sale prices over the last few years, but there are always anomalies depending on how bad the buyer wants one.
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Sounds like putting it on eBay and letting people bid whatever they want is the best course of action for at least one of the unpowered on chiclet models. I think there is a receipt on the box that would tell me if the original date of purchase is '78 or '79-- I would like to provide the buyer with as much info as I possibly can. Apparently he also bought some external datasettes for the non-chiclet versions and boxes of tapes. Should I include some tapes in the eBay posting? Or are those tapes probably too degraded over this much time?
 
rhyoraptor said:
Sounds like putting it on eBay and letting people bid whatever they want is the best course of action for at least one of the unpowered on chiclet models. I think there is a receipt on the box that would tell me if the original date of purchase is '78 or '79-- I would like to provide the buyer with as much info as I possibly can. Apparently he also bought some external datasettes for the non-chiclet versions and boxes of tapes. Should I include some tapes in the eBay posting? Or are those tapes probably too degraded over this much time?
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The tapes may work depending on how they were stored and the brand of tape used.

I agree, Ebay with a moderate starting bid and long auction should get you the best price.

I would try to include all original items that belong with any of the PETs. The external drive with the full size keyboard of course.
If there's any way to tell which tapes are for the -8 or the -16, a collection of tapes for each one would be a nice bonus.
 
Cassette tapes are tricky. Some of us are not very nostalgic towards them. Plus the maintenance and repair towards cassette drives can be completely unnecessary and off-putting if you have no plans to use cassettes. I had a bunch of Apple II cassettes from 1977 and 1978. Most worked and I went out of my way to test them etc. There was very little interest in them. Most of the programs are available online for use on real disks or emulators so Cassettes are just a relic in my opinion.
 
powerlot said:
I've seen a few PETs but never an unopened one with all its original papers, so it would be very interesting to see the contents documented and how it survived untouched.

Keep us posted about all the treasures you unearth
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I'm starting to think this guy had stock in Commodore. He was definitely trying to start a computer business. I just found at least 5 KIM-1 microcomputers in their boxes. (I know it isn't a PET so it probably doesn't belong in this thread but figured you guys will appreciate the electronics hoarded in this building.)
 

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rhyoraptor said:
I'm starting to think this guy had stock in Commodore. He was definitely trying to start a computer business. I just found at least 5 KIM-1 microcomputers in their boxes. (I know it isn't a PET so it probably doesn't belong in this thread but figured you guys will appreciate the electronics hoarded in this building.)
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Im green with envy.... I doubt ill ever get a kim-1
 
My god. I don't think I have ever seen so much NOS Commodore/MOS products all in one place that wasn't previously rounded up from all over the country.
You've found something alright. The legendary "remote place that nobody has really ever been to but is full of rare and wonderful things".
 
rhyoraptor said:
I'm starting to think this guy had stock in Commodore. He was definitely trying to start a computer business. I just found at least 5 KIM-1 microcomputers in their boxes. (I know it isn't a PET so it probably doesn't belong in this thread but figured you guys will appreciate the electronics hoarded in this building.)
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It's Commodore, so it totally belongs here.
I'd be interested in one of those KIM-1s

FWIW, the early KIMs with only the MOS logo, from before Commodore acquired MOS, are generally worth more.
Any with white ceramic chips are also worth quite a bit to collectors.
 
Hutch said:
It's Commodore, so it totally belongs here.
I'd be interested in one of those KIM-1s

FWIW, the early KIMs with only the MOS logo, from before Commodore acquired MOS, are generally worth more.
Any with white ceramic chips are also worth quite a bit to collectors.
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I'll open the boxes next time and get better stock of what's there and what type. I swear there are computers from every decade since the 70s on this property.
I will be getting rid of everything and will sell the KIM-1s to whomever wants them. I don't really know their value but there are so many, I'm sure I could sell them for relatively cheap. What have you seen them valued at?

Being so small, it'll even be easy to ship from Alaska!
 
VERAULT said:
Im green with envy.... I doubt ill ever get a kim-1
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Why not? If these are the types you want, I'm sure I could list them somewhere for sale for a very very reasonable price. I have no need for so many. Everything must go!!
 
Even for me to make it to the North edge of BC by car it's a 2-day drive. Alaska is almost 5.
People are amazed when I say a trip to Vancouver is only four hours away but you are so far out there, you wander much further and the polar bears are gonna get you.

Edited: I did the math. From where I live to you is potentially further away than driving to Chicago, which itself is a four-day drive on open interstate.
 
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rhyoraptor, this is amazing. You are a lucky person!

I tell you, the hand-drawn traces on the Kim-1s are beauty; a real work of art in their own way.

Remember if you search eBay, filter and show only sold/completed sales. That will tell you what people actually paid.

For recent Kim-1s: one went for 850, another went for 1139.59 (rev G; 36 bids in the auction), and one went for 3101.00 (rev A, ceramic chips, 36 bids). So Hutch is (as usual) correct; those early ones spike in price significantly. But yours, as you can see, is a Commodore Kim-1. I personally paid around 1000 for a Kim-1 Rev F (Commodore logo on it) with packaging and paperwork not too long ago.

For PETs, be careful to narrow the variant to what you have (blue vs black bezel, chiclet vs business keyboard, etc). A blue bezel chiclet that was kind of working just sold for 950, I bought a similar one for 900 earlier this year. I sold a fully tested/working chiclet black bezel for 1000 this year too (there's no profit in fixing them, but getting repaired systems back to the community is important to me). I see another blue bezel sold for 836, and a black bezel with business keyboard sold for 860. And others needing repairs or late models for less than 500. So make an inventory of what you have: model, serial, etc; then you can pin down real value.

I hope these can all make it to hobbyists that will love/use them, and it seems like you're a good steward to accomplish that.
 
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