Hi,
> Anyone seen this item yet? An OM2n that was used by Olympus. BIN of
> $1,200. Really rare or not?
>
> -Bill
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1273307916
Apart from having several pieces of OM gear (not as a collection), I used to
collect Iron Maiden records, and I have to say that this type of item is
what can drive a collector on the verge of despair. Of course for a
collector these are hot items (if, and only if, the item is authentic,
otherwise it's nothing more than a somewhat rare pirated item -- called a
bootleg in record collector's terms), and for records some people are
willing to pay astronomical prices for them. There's a good Dutch saying for
this type of situation, which goes something like: "The value of the item is
whatever a fool is willing to pay for it", there is really a lot of truth in
this saying. When speaking about records, the analogy should be to acetate
test pressings, indeed these are beyond a PAIN to find and they are very
expensive. Other collector's "rarities" (though much less so) are promos,
which are advance pressings of a disc that are handed out for free to
several radio stations etc., these are typically clearly labeled as "not for
sale", but they do end up on the collector's market (at times for high
amounts).
So basically what this all winds down to is the question: what _is_ the
price a fool is willing to pay for the camera? Well, that's tough to answer:
the Olympus _users_ (such as I) will have a hard time understanding anyone
paying $1200 for what I perceive as a mere photographic tool. Yet, the
"record collector" part in me can understand it somewhat more. Nonetheless,
not even for some of the rarest Iron Maiden items have I ever payed
exorbitant amounts, this is because I support the theory that when given
enough time (and dedication!) in the end you will virtually always run into
items that you want at a decent price, no need to directly spend a lot of
cash on it unless you're really desperate to get the item right away. My
collection contains samples that date back to the seventies and are
extremely limited, I've had to pursue these items for years to find them at
reasonable prices. An example is The Soundhouse Tapes, Iron Maiden's
original demo, limited to 5,000 copies, from 1979 - which cost me 60 Pounds
Sterling, and which is the item of my collection I payed most for (for all
the other items I paid far less!). Often IM collectors readily pay up to 200
pounds for it, so there you go: those fools are willing to pay 200 pounds
for it, but this fool is only willing to pay 60 pounds for it, indeed, I
will have had the longer wait, but in the end both of us will have one! ;)
Cheers!
Olafo
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