CCC = Calculator Collector Community
I received yesterday multiple emails from HP Forum members about the TI-88 ebay auction and like to explain the background of it here in the Forum.
The seller of the TI-88 (he owned actually two of them) preferred to ship the calculator only within the US, a well known topic - just remember the HP-15C LE craziness...
Two TI collectors from Europe and regular customers on my own eBay auctions asked be on already on the very first day of the auction, if they could use my US based home address for their bids. I had already a bid (more than the minimum bid but less than the reserve price) on the TI-88 and BOTH gentlemen planned to bid higher than I wanted to bid. I contacted the seller, talked with him about half an hour and we decided to retract my bid and he ended the auction. Both TI-88 were shipped to me and I forward them (without any commission...) to the proud new owners.
For me a win-win situation:
(1) I can inspect them, one is a very early prototype and the other was used to debug the design flaw, that actually killed the TI-88! (Gene, now we / I know it...).
(2) I'll meet one of the collectors the first time in person!
Hope this explains what really happened.
Best regards,
Joerg
