[LargeFormat] A rich mans hobby!

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "LNphoto" <LNphoto@twmi.rr.com>
To: <largeformat@f32.net>
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 10:19 AM
Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] A rich mans hobby!


> Now it may be just a temporary glitch, but it seems the
price of
> Anniversary Speeds have plummeted.  4 or 5 years ago I
bought an Anny
> for $150 in good shape and thought I stole it.   I used to
tell
> students that you could get an ugly, but useable Speed for
$150. Today
> I just bought a darn good wartime anny for $62! another
beater for $42.
>   and they weren't mislabeled either.  4 or 5 years ago I
saw an Anny
> sell on ebay for $600 and at sales for $300.
>
> Pacemakers have suffered of late too.  In 1986 I bought a
exc  Crown
> Special with 5 holders a Graflite with both reflectors for
$175, out of
> Shutterbug, so it wasn't a steal.  In 1996 a dealer had an
identical
> camera in equal or better shape for sale for $500.  I
thought to myself
> I shoulda taken better care of mine, but then realized I
made enough
> money putting those scratches on my camera to buy this new
one 20 times
> over.  Last week on ebay there was an auction for "a Crown
Graphic I
> can't open"  the truth is he did get it open and showed
it.  It was a
> Crown Special.  I bought it for $161.00.
>
>
> Les
>
  Prices at the local sales are staying high. A good
Pacemaker Speed Graphic with a decent lens is around $300
asking price. Crown Graphics, which were the "economy"
models, sell for more because people like the lighter weight
and compactness. I still see some Anniversary Graphics but
not so many of either as in the past. I am not really a
serious shopper since I have four 4x5 Speed Graphics and a
Miniature, so, I don't know what the actual sale prices
would be if I were bargaining.
  Prices vary all over the place for cameras so I am not
making any sort of general conclusion from this.

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com