[trh01uk]

I've read this thread with some interest, because this question of getting "valuable" items to survive after the point where I can personally care for it is something I have pondered for more than 20 years.

Some in this thread have considered the meaning of "valuable". The term has different facets to it - some think of monetary value - some think of historic value (e.g. "my radio was at the Battle of Alamein"), and some think of technical merit (though few are in a position to really evaluate that one!). Monetary value is extremely fickle and variable, as anyone who watches the auctions knows full well.

I think its worth standing back from the whole scene and considering other areas where society attempts to preserve "history". Nearly everything that is consciously preserved goes through a type of sifting process. Fine art does - in that everyone knows the Mona Lisa is virtually priceless, but there is a whole hierarchy of lesser known works that are deemed worthy of trying to preserve - and that isn't just because they have price tags in the £millions on them - but because they are deemed to represent the finest examples of their type.

With vintage electronics we have yet to apply this sifting process. All the collectors I know simply collect "everything that comes their way", or "everything the wife will let in the house" or "anything that takes their fancy" - and usually all three of these "criteria" are applied. I have yet to see a discussion about the merits of particular examples of electronics - or even how what factors we might apply to evaluate the "merit" of equipment.

I anticipate that some people will react with horror to the idea that some bits of vintage electronics really are only fit for a skip, while other items are indeed extremely fine examples of the "art of electronics", which might deserve some effort to preserve. But if we look around us at the electronics we have in our house now - a lot of it really is junk, fit for immediate use only, and should be duly consigned to the bin as soon as it ceases to work or be useful. And the trouble is that much vintage electronics has somehow escaped that fate - and survives purely by the whim of a collector.

I am not offering easy answers here - merely suggesting that the "vintage electronics/radio community" might want to apply their collective brains to this before the hand of fate simply steps in and does the job for us.


Richard