AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

With my love of film and shooting with vintage equipment, I spend a lot of (my wife would say perhaps too much) time on eBay. Of late, I've noticed a trend that is a bit puzzling - a bizarre increase in really odd photo items listed at generally inflated prices.

For example, there are tons of old, and I mean VERY old film, going for outrageous prices. A roll of Kodacolor II 35mm for nearly $25 including shipping? In a partly crushed box? No provenance provided, so it could have been in someone's glove compartment for the last forty years. 139 separate listings for vintage Kodachrome, ranging from ten bucks to over fifty? What do the sellers think that buyers will do with the stuff - take a ride in a DeLorean to go back to the future to get it developed?

Then there are the numerous broken and unusable cameras, light meters, lenses, and other junk. Non-functional, many in really ugly condition, and someone has them listed at three digit pricetags. Not Leicas and Ektras, but low end cameras in their day. Do they expect that there are many prop directors in Hollywood that need a beat up Univex from 1934? How about Polaroid pack backs? There are dozens and dozens for all sorts of makes and models, but there hasn't been any peel apart pack film made this millennium, I think. A back for a Graphic or generic 4x5 is cheap, but there are Linhof, Hasselblad, and other medium format Polaroid backs at $200 and sometimes even more. Does the one guy who's apparently assembled the entire stock of Polaroid pack film really need them all?

And finally, the ephemera. Yes, a buck or two seems cheap, but who on earth is in the market for an instructional insert from a roll of film or an Instamatic camera? The cardboard that flashbulbs or cubes were packaged in? Price stickers? Who collects such things?

Anyway, I was wondering whether I was the only one who had noticed this - I know that young people are going crazy for vintage items and nostalgia, but I fail to see the appeal of much of this stuff, at least at the prices being asked.

Any ideas?

Andy

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

A famous entertainer and businessman once noted: There's a sucker born every minute.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Yep. Lots of proof of that in our world today.

But I didn't know they were all photographic gearheads.

Andy

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

An offer to sell is not the same as an offer to buy ...

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

True, but when I look at actual sales instead of listings, I am still often astounded at the number of folks who seem to fit Barnum's description. It's a revelation!

Andy

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

And while Instamatics can go for a hundred bucks or more, you still find large numbers of underappreciated user-collector cameras going for insanely low prices.

Does anyone remember the Clarus, US made 35 mm rangefinder from the forties? Beautifully made and finished, adaptable to many lenses, and very innovative for their day. There are a couple dozen on the 'bay right now, with prices starting as low as about fifty bucks.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Clarus-MS-35-35mm-Film-Camera/174030062749?hash=item288500049d:g:muUAAOSw9GRdVwrl

I guess I'll never understand the ebb and flow of popularity among collectors, but among camera folk it seems to be even less rational than in other collector circles I frequent.

Andy

Bob Mevis Loc: Plymouth, Indiana

I'm beginning to think one every second might be closer to the mark.