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Subject: Collector's Corner..On The Philosophy Of Collecting Chess Computers

Author: Steve B

Date: 05:42:02 08/19/05


In the July 05 issue of "Selective Search" there is an interesting profile of
the world of the Top collectors

Two top collector's are profiled each giving their history and discussing their
collecting philosophy


there is an interesting contrast between the two however..

one collector seems interested in acquiring as many different computers as
possible,with the AMOUNT being the most important factor.indeed he mentions he
has close to 700 computers in his collection

while the other collector seems more concerned with the QUALITY of the
collection,focusing not so much on amount but rather ,on very rare or even
unusual computers.his collection was close to 400 computers

each collector will develop his own collecting interest or "Philosophy" over the
years

some top collectors will only collect Tabletop units,totally ignoring portables
others will focus mainly on portables and will have very larger computers
while still other collectors concentrate mainly on large wooden chess computers

for me..only computers "released for sale" are of interest
modified,experimental or even prototypes are of no interest

Furthermore,having every single computer ever released is also of no interest to
me
while i have most computers released  before 1995 i have very few made after
this date

the reason is basically because this was around the time that the PC chess
program started to show total dominance in the chess computer market and
manufacturers stopped releasing dedicated units on a consistent basis.IMO the
quality and craftsmanship of many of the computers sold after this date were
noticeably diminished

most buyers of chess computers stopped even considering spending several hundred
dollars for a dedicated computer when a PC program that could be had for $25
would play much stronger chess

of course regardless of one's  collecting "Philosophy" ,most top collections
contain many of the same computers,however it is perhaps those 25-50 computers
that one collection contains that another does not where the difference can be
discerned

Emanual Kant Regards
Steve



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