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Auction
Interesting story. Is it true?
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My guess is yes. Too much plausible detail to be made up. Unless a very sophisticated con artist. Anyway easily debunked if untrue.
This may end up being the "$9000 Red - err - Green Dot(s)."
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Bill Hewlett used it for a few months and gave it back to my Department Head, Dr. Paul Green. Bill’s comment was “You have to go into the Men’s room and turn off the light to be able to use it”
I've been in Bill's office, which along with Dave's is kept as they used them. Window walls - lots of light. I can see the problem. I didn't go into the (shared if i remember correctly) bathroom. I hope the buyer submits a good photo to the Museum.
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regarding the current consumption (running for 20 minutes), technically is very true. early green LEDS were extremely inefficient compared to red, hence why red was almost universally used back then. now, today the matter is quite different.
i have a couple of moderately scruffy 31E units with defective displays (bubbles in the plastic lens - probably since new) that i'm considering doing a similar sort of operation to, except replacing the displays with much larger orange LED digits of 1/2" height.
rob :-)
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I was expecting a lot more comments on this one. I guess half the forum membership is planning on bidding on it, so no one wants to talk it up |:~)
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I'm torn between bidding and making my own...!
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I'll talk! I just bid $250, $400, $500 to test the reserve -- that was it. My guess is that this will go for $5,000+ to someone in Europe.
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So if he only had $500 reserve, he may be somewhat surprised when all is said and done.
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Actually I don't think the auction is available outside USA. I can't find it in TAS through key word search (Australia), but only through the direct link from this thread or item number. Something I'd normally bid on too ;) Keith
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It IS available outside of the USA. Censorship in Australia?? ;)
Edited: 15 Jan 2011, 1:06 p.m.
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Sorry, Walter, but the auction clearly says Ships to: United States.
So, it is not available outside the US.
Regards,
Ernst
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Sorry, Ernst, the question was different. The *auction* is accessible/available worldwide, the *item* offered will be shipped to the US of A only - so far. Apparently the seller doesn't want to make as much money as possible, and nobody asked him for shipment to a location outside the USA yet.
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Quote: [..] Apparently the seller doesn't want to make as much money as possible, and nobody asked him for shipment to a location outside the USA yet.
You don't _know_ whether he has been asked or not;-)
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Good morning!
Quote: You don't _know_ whether he has been asked or not;-)
And, what did he say?
Anyway, if the final price for this thing will go anywhere near to where we expect it to go, it will be cheaper to travel to the US and collect it in person than to pay the inevitable import tax into the European Union if it gets shipped by mail.
Cheers,
Max
Edited: 16 Jan 2011, 6:06 a.m.
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When an item is listed for sale within its country of origin it won't come up in search results for other countries sites unless it is listed for shipping to other countries. You can enter the item ID to get the item to come up so you can still view it, but you need to know that it's there. You can even bid (well I did on this item!!), but if it's not offered for sale within that country then it won't show up in that country's TAS site (in my case e*ay.com.au, also eb*y.co.uk, *bay.co.nz, etc) then it won't come up in a search result that's all. Nothing to do with censorship. Cheers, Keith
Edited: 16 Jan 2011, 5:28 p.m.
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Keith,
you can avoid this by searching on the local website(s) of TAS yourself. IMO the US-site is worthwhile browsing, a few others as well - <5 in total on this planet. BTW, did you see the ;) in my posting above?
HTH, Walter
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Walter ;) I did miss that, but I've seen it now! I am a frequent visitor to TAS.com
Cheers, Keith
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I suppose it might have some small historical interest, but in the end it is just another modified calculator. While the mods were not trivial, they are not rocket science either. I'll pass.
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but in the end it is just another modified calculator
I don't see it that way at all, it's a prototype that never made it into production, I think that makes it quite valuable.
I think it would be more than difficult to mod an HP-45 to have a green display. Finding any displays, much less green ones, that fit and look right in the classic calculators would be extremely difficult. More likely impossible, if this didn't come from HP. At the time HP had an entire division producing similar displays but not this one. So this is both a prototype calculator and a prototype display.
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Quote:
I suppose it might have some small historical interest...
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I don't see it that way at all, it's a prototype that never made it into production, I think that makes it quite valuable.
If the story is true, to a serious collector, it's value must derive from both its uniqueness and its direct association to Bill Hewlett.
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I suppose I should reconsider my objection's. I think I might just start "dumpster diving" at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino. If I can salvage some of the failed prototype's that Steve Jobs has recently rejected, maybe the income from the auctions can support me in my old age.
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Really not interested. Too green for my taste :-)
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Hi Everyone,
I am the guy selling the Green display HP-45. My normal profile on EBAY is for shipping only to the U.S. I got a request from a Calculator museum in Europe and changed my profile to allow international shipping. I tried to edit the listing to drop the "U.S. only" but editing is not allowed once the reserve has been exceeded.
So yes, I will ship it internationally.
I cannot explain about Australia.
My story is true.
Sincerely,
Alan
Edited: 16 Jan 2011, 1:36 p.m. after one or more responses were posted
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Alan,
Thanks for chiming in. A remarkable story. Best of luck on the auction.
By the way, be sure to send photos to Dave Hicks before you ship it!
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