Is your Speccy a collector's item or a pile of junk?

Feature: Is your Speccy a collector's item or a pile of junk?

Look through your local paper and you are bound to find several Speccy kits for sale. The unrelenting upgrade to Amigas, PCs and mindless rip-off consoles continues — in other words it's a Spectrum collector's paradise! Anything is collectable, be it milk bottles or Aston Martins. Collecting is more than just a hobby, you are in fact cataloguing a part of history, and in the Speccy's case quite an important part of the 20th century. That goes for all of the early eighties 8-bit home computers but it was Uncle Clive who created the whole scene. When looking into the value of objects the general rule is how rare that item is. Valuation takes no account of the individual's feelings towards their collectables. The Spectrum is not deemed to be valuable because of the sheer number that were produced.

Given time (at least 20 years) your boxed pristine Speccy is going to be worth a fair bit of money. At first this will be a nostalgic twee value, rather like Stylophones are viewed now. Redundant Speccys are already turning up in a number of object d'art situations; book-ends for trendy couples, Z80 chip earrings and wouldn't a Kempston interface make a nice soap dish for the bathroom. There are a couple of essential rules in collecting your Spectrum gear; don't buy original cassettes without actual original covers (they are worth zilch) and NEVER buy any Speccy from a boot fair if the owners look like they have a pit bull called Tyson. Take my advice, it won't work. If you buy a +3 from a dear old granny and a daughter who looks like Pippi Longstocking, and it STILL doesn't work, then your intuition is crap and you deserve jack shit.

Prepare to be amazed at what you can buy with your little pocket of small change. An average price would be very hard to quote but don't pay more than `1 for any piece of software. Don't pay more for what will probably be one beat up cassette in a very large box. Check the actual tapes for uneven reels which could be a sign of chew up. Check the tape head pad for dirt, the more dirt the more use it's had. Torn labels and boxes or scribbles will de-value your kit. It's essential to take a long term view. Everything increases in value with age but your Speccy, above most other 8-bit gear, will be the one to bear fruit! (DAVE)