Ask HN: Should I sell my vintage computer collection?

I'm moving house after 10 years and realising just how many computers I have accumulated in 20 years of collecting.

I have all sorts of machines, and in fact whilst packing up the house I keep finding boxes that have been mailed to me from eBay purchases that I never opened - I don't even know what's in them.

To illustrate how many I have, the other day I thought "Do I have an Amiga? I think I do." and I went looking through boxes. I opened a box and on top was an Amiga 1200. Underneath it were two Amiga 1000's.

I have two Apple 2 computers signed by Steve Wozniak.

I'm conflicted about whether to keep all these machines or not. On one hand, having them makes me feel good inside at some level. Howver, I don't DO anything with them - they mostly stay in boxes. Partly this is because I am way too busy doing real world stuff to be fiddling with vintage technology, partly it's because I think for me the joy is in the wanting, the finding and the buying.

I'm pretty sure I've developed this habit because as a child in the last 1970's and early 80's we could never afford a computer for many years, when it was something I wanted more than anything in the world.

Partly I hold back from selling them because firstly if I regret it then I'll never be able to build such a collection again. Partly I think maybe I'll get around to playing with them when (if) I ever "retire".

On the other hand it's sort of a burden to have this giant collection of "stuff". I don't have anywhere nice to display them, and vintage computers need a level of care and attention I just can't give.

In favor of selling them I would probably get maybe a number of thousand dollars which would help buy a house - something I ned a whole lot more than I need a bunch of vintage computers.

I dunno - what do you think HN, sell the collection or keep them?

A significant problem I noticed after moving my collection out of storage after about three years is that there is quite a bit of damage to the systems - leaking batteries, failed capacitors etc. Selling will only make sense if the systems are working, so you should expect having to invest quite a lot of time and some money to repair the damaged machines (or sell them for parts, but then the prices will probably be significantly lower).

Yeah I'm concerned about the caps. Most of my machines are too old to have batteries.

I’m interested in the signed Apple 2.

Yes this may be the way to go. My son advocates this.

I also have a real passion for analog televisions and radios. I have too many of those too.