Absolutely insane price. More like $750 with shipping. Must have been a good bidding war. I expected $4-500 at best.
I'm not gonna lie, out of my 4 model fs, the AT is my least favorite. I haven't tried a battleship or an unsaver, but I'd probably like [them] more to be honest...
Even
ANSI-modded? ;?)
Well whoever bought this one was a serious die-hard IBM collector. The same kind of collector that would pay 10x the value of a common keyboard because it has some super low serial number or spend $2k on an unsaver or beamspring... These buyers could be from anywhere. This hobby has become more mainstream and vintage gear has become more sought after...
Interesting... Still, the sheer number of these high sales prices makes me wonder how many people with that type of money are out there and where they hail from.
Mostly China, I'm thinking.
Since the Reagan administration allowed U.S. companies to move virtually all of their manufacturing jobs East, the an unimaginable amount of dough has flooded the PRC (whose government, BTW, has taken advantage of this opportunity to finance the biggest military buildup in history).
It's hard for us to imagine how many people are in the PRC. Each year, my sister-in-law teaches English in what they consider a "medium-sized" city. It has the same population as greater Los Angeles.
As these great old boards steadily travel East, KB fans there are catching on. And many of them have the dough, and more, to pay the kinds of prices we're seeing now.