IBM Space Saving Keyboards - Historical Prices

[Sam]

With iMav's approval, I'm planning to create a few new threads of historical prices of keyboards which I'm interested in.  This is the first of those threads, and I plan to create another one for IBM AT keyboards, IBM Beam Springs, and possibly other IBM Model F's.  If anyone is interested in doing something similar for other types of keyboards, feel free to create your own thread and manage it as necessary.  I know I often want to research prices an item has sold for in the past, so I hope this resource will be useful to some of you.

I've only listed IBM Space-Saving Keyboards (SSKs) in this list, which are 84-key IBM Model M keyboards.  They are frequently referred to "Space Savers", though that term is technically incorrect, and also "Minis".  For more information about IBM SSKs and particulars of different model numbers, refer to the IBM Wiki on this site.

The listing is in chronological order in the following format:

Line 1 (Transaction Information): Date, Listing location - Seller, BIN, Sold/Unsold, Price
Date: YYYY.MM.DD format (sorry if you don't like that format, but it's the most logical format to me being it's in natural sort order)
Listing Location: where the item was listed (default location for all eBay items is USA unless otherwise noted)  GH = Geekhack, either in the classified forum or elsewhere.
Seller's ID if known
"BIN" indicator if item was "Buy it Now"
"Sold" or "Unsold" to indicate if anyone bought the item, blank if unknown
Price it sold for, with "shipped" after the price if it included free shipping.  All prices are in USD unless otherwise noted.

Line 2 (Item information if known): Model Number, Logo Color, Condition / Special Characteristics, Date of Manufacture
Model Number: Standard IBM model number
Logo Color: "Gray Label" means gray/black "IBM" letters, "Blue label" means blue "IBM" letters
Condition: "NIB" means New in Box, "New" means new without box, all items are assumed used unless otherwise stated
Date of Manufacture: YYYY.MM.DD format

Line 3 (Link(s)): Where I found the discussion of this listing/sale

Caveats: I did a search of this forum and the Classifieds back one year and used that as the basis for this list.  Some of the latest eBay sales I was familiar with, and/or could still pull up the listing from eBay.  Most of the older listings I was not familiar with, and the eBay listings have expired, so there is much more chance for error in interpreting the threads related to those listings.  Some keyboards may or may not have sold, I tried my best to indicate "Sold" when it was clear it did sell.  Others may have sold but without any definite indication in the thread, I didn't list it as being sold.  For items sold in the Geekhack classifieds, it's very difficult to know for sure the exact price they sold for as most communications between the seller and buyer are private.

If you find any errors in the listing, please feel free to post a correction.  I specifically did not list the buyer, even if that information was known, due to possibly some buyers not wanting that information made public in such an easily retrievable manner.

I'm sure I missed plenty of sales.  If you know of any sales not in this list, please feel free to post the details, and I'll add it into the list, sorted in chronological order.  If you know of any missing details of a sale, feel free to post them.  I'll try to in the future search back further in this forum for more SSK threads prior to a year ago.

I'll do my best to keep the list up to date with new data as keyboards are sold.



2010.4.14, eBay, BIN Sold? for $80
Link


2010.4.19, eBay, BIN Sold $55
1392464
Link


2010.4.20, eBay - rarekeyboardstore, $?
1391472, 1987
Link


2010.4.25, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $243.83
NIB
Link


2010.4.27, eBay, BIN Unsold for $99
Blue Label, Spanish layout, 1987.9.11
Link


2010.5.10, eBay Canada, Sold for $72 CAD
1397681 Blue Label
Link


2010.5.10, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $240
Blue Label, NIB
Link


2010.5.15, eBay, BIN $300
1397681, NIB
Link1
Link2


2010.5.24, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $250
NIB
Link


2010.5.30, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $227
Gray Label, NIB
Link1
Link2


2010.6.1, eBay, BIN Sold for $100
1397681
Link


2010.6.1, eBay, BIN Sold for $100
1397681
Link


2010.6.6, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $206
NIB?
Link


2010.6.11, eBay, BIN? Sold for $85
1987
Link


2010.6.20, eBay Canada?, Sold for $202 CAD?
NIB
Link


2010.6.20, eBay Canada?, Sold for $140 CAD?
Link


2010.8.4, eBay, BIN Sold for $125
Link


2010.8.8, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $203
NIB
Link


2010.8.26, eBay, Sold for $75
1391472, Warped
Link1
Link2
Link3


2010.8.26?, eBay - linxyo, BIN Sold for $65 shipped
Link


2010.8.?, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $172.50
NIB
Link


2010.9.2, eBay, Sold for $100
1397681
Link


2010.9.5, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $207.53
NIB
Link


2010.9.13, eBay, BIN $145
Includes Blue Cube
Link


2010.9.13, eBay, Sold for $78
1392934, 1991
Link


2010.9.14, eBay, Sold for $?
1391472, 1987
Link


2010.9.19, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $300
NIB
Link


2010.10.3, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $212.50
NIB
Link


2010.10.17, eBay, Sold for $112.50
1397681 Blue Label, black rit dyed keys
Link


2010.10.17, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $255
NIB
Link


2010.10.21?, eBay, Sold for $203.50?
Link


2010.10.31, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $265
NIB
Link


2010.11.19, eBay, Sold for $118.75
Link


2010.11.20, eBay, Sold for $169
Link


2010.11.21, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $306
NIB
Link


2010.11.25, eBay - ncbound10, Sold for $124.95
Link


2010.11.27, eBay, Sold for $152.26
1392464, mismatched keycaps, 1988.1.18
Link


2010.12.5, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $210
NIB
Link


2010.12.9, eBay, BIN Sold for $150
Link1
Link2


2010.12.11, eBay - dcozart, Sold for $202.50
NIB
Link


2010.12.13, eBay, Sold for $102.50
Link


2010.12.19, eBay  - comptek2wk, Sold for $223.51
NIB
Link


2010.12.27, eBay, Sold for $83.78
1391472, missing keycaps, no cable, cosmetically challenged
Link


2011.1.3, eBay, Sold for $77
1391472, missing several keycaps
Link


2011.1.4, eBay, BIN Sold for $68
1391472, 1991.11.27
Link


2011.1.5, eBay, Sold for $73
Link


2011.1.8, direct - comptek2wk, Sold for $199
NIB
Link


2011.1.9, eBay  - comptek2wk, Sold for $316
NIB
Link


2011.1.22, eBay - ncbound10, Sold for $157.50
1397681 Blue label, 1992.9.22
Link


2011.1.30, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $355.03
1392934 Gray Label, NIB, 1991.9.25
Link


2011.1.30, eBay - chris35_u2_yahoo_com, Sold for $142.50
Gray Label, no cord, scuffed in upper left corner
Link


2011.2.16, GH - bigpook, Sold for $200
1392934 Blue Label, NIB, Bolt-modded, Red Esc key, 1992.8.20?
Link


2011.2.20, eBay - comptek2wk, Sold for $355
1392934 Gray Label, NIB, 1992.1.15
Link


2011.2.27, eBay - knallie, Sold for $213.50
1397681 Blue Label, 1993.2.19
Link


2011.3.4, eBay - ncbound10, Sold for $247
1392464 Gray Label, 1987.6.25
Link


2011.3.13, eBay - comptekw2k, Sold for $365
1392934 Gray Label,  NIB (sealed box),  1991.9.26?
Link


2011.3.17, GH - jpc, Sold for $175ish
1391472, Bolt-modded, very clean, 1991.11.27
Link


2011.3.26, GH - Danno, Sale Pending, $250
1397681 Blue Label, 1993.3.25
Link


2011.3.29, GH - ethanh8791, $?
1397681 Blue Label, 1992.12.2
Link


2011.4.1, eBay - hkman31, Sold for $175.50
1391472 Gray Label, 1987.12.23
Link


2011.4.3, GH - MissleMike, Sold for $285
NIB
Link


2011.4.3, GH - MissleMike, Sold for $285?
NIB
Link


2011.4.10, eBay - comptekw2k, Sold for $405
1392934 Gray Label, NIB, box damaged, 1991.9.25
Link


2011.4.12, eBay - thedward, BIN Sold for $200
1397681 Gray Label, 1993.2.22
Link


2011.4.14, eBay - conepaper, BIN Sold for $75.50
1391472 Gray Label, Print Screen key doesn't click, 1987.5.13
Link


2011.4.15, eBay - ncbound10, Sold for $233.50
1392934 Gray Label, 1988.4.5
Link


2011.4.19, eBay - pengi1, Sold for $247.50
1391472 Blue Label, Lexmark, 1995.2.13
Link1
Link2


2011.4.21, eBay, Sold for $499.99 shipped
1395682, Industrial, Blue keycaps for cursor pad, F1, F2, Includes heavy duty steel drawer, 1993.9.24
Link


2011.4.22, GH - kaiserreich, Sold for $125
1397681 Blue Logo, Alt keycap damaged, pingy likely due to broken rivets, 1993.2.19
Link

[Sam]

The off-topic and threadcrapping in this forum makes it quite difficult at times to simply try to figure out what something sold for, which is one of the reasons I wanted to make this thread with the summaries of the sales.

Were you being sarcastic or serious about your remark of the Industrial Mini being the best deal ever?  The reason I ask is that they're so rare and I've seen no other sales to know what would be an appropriate price.  It also had custom keycaps not found on standard Industrial SSKs.  I did find this thread where Webwit was quoted:

Meh. I paid $120 for Brian's first Industrial Space Saver, but it was a "loyal customer" price, and he's smart because I told him he should charge at least $200 or better auction them, and I posted about it on geekhack. The next 4 he sold for $200 in a very short amount of time. I knew he had one left, hidden away, which he later sold to me for a, ehm, special price of $320. I think auctioned they make much more than that. The first one was shipped to me "uncleaned" for speed, and they are pretty much NIB without the box. Current value: whatever the biggest lunatic pays for it on ebay.

But I have no idea when those were sold and think it's quite certain if another one of these came up now it would sell for well in excess of $500 given standard NIB SSKs are now over $400.  I'm guessing you got one of those four he mentions, though I've never seen you post what you paid for yours.

[Sam]

So what do you think a nice condition, used Industrial SSK should go for?

[Sam]

Well, the supply of those is obviously way less than regular SSKs.  Out of 70 or so keyboards on the list, only one is an Industrial SSK.  So if a standard nice condition used SSK is currently going for $250, and I think a lot of people would prefer the industrials to standards, I'd guess they should go for way above double the standard price ($250 x 2 = $500).  Only problem is there's not so many people willing to spend that kind of money on a keyboard.

Ok, how about if I modify the question.  Would you be willing to sell your Industrial SSK for $750?

[keyboardlover]

Industrial SSKs are serious business. I am SO glad that I don't like buckling springs...

[Sam]

I'm so glad that I love buckling springs and can afford them. :biggrin:

[kaiserreich]

I am so glad I'm content with my full sized standard Model M instead of the various expensive flavours.

[Ascaii]

link for the industrial mini is wrong

[keyboardlover]

He's right - the link is regarding a non-industrial SSK.

[Ascaii]

ripster, I always end up with this listing: http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-Model-M-Keyboard-Space-Saver-1391472-/320684677845?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item4aaa4bdad5&autorefresh=true

which is identical to the other one. I want my industrial pictures!

[Sam]

Here's a link to the same keyboard from Clickykeyboards.  Evidently there's two types of these Industrial SSKs.  The ones like this with the blue keys for the cursor keypad, F1, F2, and then the type with normal keycaps.  Ripster, your Industrial SSK just has normal keycaps, right?  Wonder if there's other varieties as well.

[kill will]

next stop 600!

[kill will]

or 150.  either way...

[ricercar]

So how much does Unicomp want for the industrial space saver enclosure top? Time to make some Industrial Minis!

[wanabe]

they're just $10+shipping

[J888www]

I purchase two last Year but cannot remember the cost of purchase. I don't think it was expensive as I parted with one as a present for dedication to the IBM Keyboard, then again I sometimes do unexpected things for no particular reason. They may have gone out of stock but no harm in asking though unfortunately they do not have any Industrial lower parts. Chuck was kind enough to include two Black IBM sticker logos with my Order, exemplary Customer Service, an act of kindness which I shall forever treasure.

[snerual]

I asked several weeks ago, and unfortunately they were out of stock.