60 replies to this topic

[grif 678]

I have noticed that over the last year, the classics  are not being put up for sale like they use to be. I hope the reason for this is that the owners have enjoyed them, and want to keep them and take care of them. I think in most cases, if a classic like the orange tube Celestron C-80 was sold to a new generation viewer, it would not meet the "do it all " criteria that young people expect now a days from everything. Then they may decide they do not want it, and not knowing the true value of these scopes, may just either sell to someone else who wants a do it all, or maybe just trash it. I have seen some mighty good classic scopes in Good Will ads that people just did not want anymore.

Hopefully , the classic owners that do know the value and nostalgics of these scopes, will try to sell it to someone else who will appreciate what these scopes are.

I have a soft place in my heart for certain classics. like the orange tube C-80, the orange tube C-8, the orange tube C-90 mak, 114 unitron, 76mm Sears, the older Meade 2080, the Edmund line from the 60's. There are others that I really appreciate, but can not name them all. 

Wish I owned one of all these scopes, would be in heaven even if I never was able to look through any of them. Fun looking at them.

A great generation of scopes, made in a great generation of space exploration, sci-fi movies about space travel, etc.I still have some old catalogs, a great Celestron one from the early 80's. Wish I could find a good unirtron catalog.

Long live the good old classics that will last longer than me, you future generation, if you get one, take care of it, it was once someone's baby.

[rfcooley]

I own several classics and use them regularly. (see my sig.) My AP kit is technology heavy and requires additional time to set up and get working and sometimes the data I gathered is not has satisfying as just taking out one of my classics and having a look see.

 

Doing this 60 years and no I would not easily give up one my classics there is a lot of history with them, some fond experiences and others not so fond, some we came to terms with.

 

Clear Skies,

 

Rf

[CHASLX200]

Not being held on by me.

[jragsdale]

I already found all the scopes I can possibly hold onto. Tried to be as discerning as I could, but I'm pretty chock full now, someone else needs to do their part for all the others. I'll still take on the occasional restoration and resell project, but for "keepers", it's a one-in-one-out policy for me now. (If you're curious, I keep a list of all my scopes in my Bio in my profile.)

[Lentini]

Quite a list you have. Looks like a Museum inventory. 
 

I have a couple that qualify as classics, and I baby them for sure. Hope to pass them on in just as good a condition as I found them. Really enjoy looking through them. My Oracle 3 is outside now waiting for Jupiter. Saturn was sharp earlier. 

[MGAR]

I already found all the scopes I can possibly hold onto. Tried to be as discerning as I could, but I'm pretty chock full now, someone else needs to do their part for all the others. I'll still take on the occasional restoration and resell project, but for "keepers", it's a one-in-one-out policy for me now. (If you're curious, I keep a list of all my scopes in my Bio in my profile.)

I'm in the same boat but I'm not sure how long I can keep hanging on. No one else in my area except Robert (Clamchip) that I can converse with on our classics. We are all like Ad Astra, we are the ones holding the classical scopes from far away that someday one will think that we will destroy the earth.

 

Hold on to that Tinsley!!!!

Gary 

[AstroKerr]

I hunt the infrequents, acquire, fix, use them and, if I really like them, find more and send them to vetted needful recipients in elsewhere lands. I often go back to the hunter-gatherers 'out there' who help me acquire the scopes to find homes in other 'out theres', where life isn't as easy as it is here. To get it right requires careful investigation, thru Unis, schools, churches and individuals - educators, scientists, social workers and so on. On the side, we trade other items, recipes, and various hacks. 

 

I can't sell a classic scope - my 'poor kid' just won't allow it. He also doesn't let me send anything I don't want to keep. I vet hard and by doing so I can be  pretty darn sure these scopes have gone where they are appreciated, used well and cared for and not to some sneaky flipper fop.

 

Be Safe. Be Well.

Edited by AstroKerr, 18 October 2024 - 11:12 PM.

[highfnum]

got 3 antiques

plus a bunch of classics 

 

 

all in good condition 

[Senex Bibax]

I typically haven't hung on to classics very long when I don't want / need them any longer. On the contrary, I have found that it takes a long time to sell them, even just to get replies to ads, although I don't price above average.Often I have to lower my price multiple times. Maybe it's a consequence of living in Ottawa and shipping costs, I don't know.

[CHASLX200]

Only hanging on to my 826 and AP 800.  All other scopes are gone and after 47 years of buying i am done.

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[jragsdale]

Only hanging on to my 826 and AP 800.  All other scopes are gone and after 47 years of buying i am done.

"One scope to rule them all and in the darkness bind them...."

[starman876]

Only hanging on to my 826 and AP 800.  All other scopes are gone and after 47 years of buying i am done.

Strange, I think I have heard this tune before, and before and before........................................

[CHASLX200]

Strange, I think I have heard this tune before, and before and before........................................

Well i gots no choice now. No Ins so gotta pay for everything. At least i am getting 10k cash back for the Vette over what i owed.  Kit cabs needed to be replaced when i got the house 20 years ago. All the other stuff in the house was pretty much worn out stuff.  Main thing is new roof and new A/C as ya can't live without them and i can deal without having walls jamal.  So at least 30k to get back to normal and i figure i have saved well over 100k on HOI and flood INS since 2004.  So first things first.

Edited by CHASLX200, 19 October 2024 - 07:37 AM.

[deSitter]

Only hanging on to my 826 and AP 800.  All other scopes are gone and after 47 years of buying i am done.

After all that, a humble Meade Newtonian is left standing.

 

-drl

[CHASLX200]

After all that, a humble Meade Newtonian is left standing.

 

-drl

And a SW100ED and some mounts and 163 eyep's and other odds and ends.  Big mopping up job to do here.

Edited by CHASLX200, 19 October 2024 - 08:01 AM.

[jgraham]

I always seem to own one telescope short of too many. Each one was bought scratch an itch and I want it to stay scratched! Each one was also bought to be looked through, not at, so they each get used in turn, and most needed a little TLC to get them back to as close as I can get them to their original condition on the theory that they worked when they were new, so if I return them to that condition they should work as designed. I then may add a few modern accessories like star diagonals, eyepieces, and RACI finders. My wife spent most of her career in early childhood education and we like to help with outreach events that are likely to attract families with young children and we love giving them that "Oh Wow!" moment, and the Classics do a particularly good job at that. They look exactly what they expect a telescope to look like and the view never disappoints....

 

Unitron 510 at the 2024 Scope Out at the Cincinnati Observatory...

 

 

 

Still catching starlight after all these years...

 

Enjoy!

Edited by jgraham, 19 October 2024 - 08:50 AM.

[jgraham]

Unitron 155 at International Observe the Moon Night...

 

 

Nothing draws a line quite like a Unitron pointing at Saturn...

 

 

 

[upwinddan]

Only hanging on to my 826 and AP 800.  All other scopes are gone and after 47 years of buying i am done.

Did you sell all those scopes at one time? I picked up a scope from you a couple of years ago and you had enough scopes to start a museum. 

[CHASLX200]

Did you sell all those scopes at one time? I picked up a scope from you a couple of years ago and you had enough scopes to start a museum. 

Ya one local buyer and in one sweet shot.  Same guy i got most of them from anyways. Glad to be rid of all of them.

[Bomber Bob]

I'll still take on the occasional restoration and resell project, but for "keepers", it's a one-in-one-out policy for me now.

 

Same here - but it's tough!  I still have a soft spot for abandoned scopes.  Some of the scopes that show up on the GW auctions... pitiful.  But at least there's one determined Buyer on there who scoops up just about everything.  They're like Ole BB - 10 years ago.  An ASTRO collection, then a Vixen collection, then Mizar...  to wind up with 5 TAKs... never saw that coming.

 

After all that, a humble Meade Newtonian is left standing.

 

Well, like our antique CRV (232K miles!), it just works:

 

[grif 678]

Only hanging on to my 826 and AP 800.  All other scopes are gone and after 47 years of buying i am done.

That is one beautiful classic scope

[Don W]

I buy them and sell them. I have only held onto a couple:

 

1. Brandon 94

2. Complete 70s C-5 with tripod.

3. Selsi 247 80mm. 
 

I had 2 Brandon 94s. One was a pristine unit with the original cage/ring mount and nearly perfect. The second had parts missing and had been painted a darker blue. I got the parts but left the paint alone. I can use it without fear of use wear and enjoy the views of the early Roland Christen optics.  The focuser has a long extension which makes it a very good candidate for binoviewers.

 

 Sold the pristine 94 to someone who likes to look at pretty things, LOL!

[deSitter]

I have noticed that over the last year, the classics  are not being put up for sale like they use to be. I hope the reason for this is that the owners have enjoyed them, and want to keep them and take care of them. I think in most cases, if a classic like the orange tube Celestron C-80 was sold to a new generation viewer, it would not meet the "do it all " criteria that young people expect now a days from everything. Then they may decide they do not want it, and not knowing the true value of these scopes, may just either sell to someone else who wants a do it all, or maybe just trash it. I have seen some mighty good classic scopes in Good Will ads that people just did not want anymore.

Hopefully , the classic owners that do know the value and nostalgics of these scopes, will try to sell it to someone else who will appreciate what these scopes are.

I have a soft place in my heart for certain classics. like the orange tube C-80, the orange tube C-8, the orange tube C-90 mak, 114 unitron, 76mm Sears, the older Meade 2080, the Edmund line from the 60's. There are others that I really appreciate, but can not name them all. 

Wish I owned one of all these scopes, would be in heaven even if I never was able to look through any of them. Fun looking at them.

A great generation of scopes, made in a great generation of space exploration, sci-fi movies about space travel, etc.I still have some old catalogs, a great Celestron one from the early 80's. Wish I could find a good unirtron catalog.

Long live the good old classics that will last longer than me, you future generation, if you get one, take care of it, it was once someone's baby.

Much of the market has moved to FB Marketplace and away from Ebay.

 

-drl

[Astrojensen]

not knowing the true value of these scopes, may just either sell to someone else who wants a do it all, or maybe just trash it.

I have saved several scopes and mounts from ending up in the landfill. Among those is one of the finest homemade mounts I've seen, plus the only known surviving scope from Danish telescope maker "Nordisk Astro Optik" in Copenhagen. They were advertized for weeks on a large, Danish astronomy forum. Nobody wanted them. The scope even came with several boxes of books and a few Zeiss eyepieces (though that wasn't mentioned in the ad )!  

 

 

 

Just a few months ago, I picked up a Wachter Astronom II mount in good condition for free, that no one wanted, because it can't be modified to GOTO. It's a big, strong mount, about the size of an EQ-6. The counterweight shaft is 27mm diameter.  

 

 

 

Clear skies!

Thomas, Denmark

Edited by Astrojensen, 19 October 2024 - 11:43 AM.

[Kasmos]

My first 5 classics I've owned since new so they aged into being classics and I've always kept them in good condition. Most of my later purchases and gifts have been neglected and or incomplete or junk scopes that weren't far from being land fill. I put a lot of work into bringing them back, but since this is an out of step Niche Hobby within a Niche Hobby I pretty much think they'll revert back to being the neglected and un-cared for scopes there were. And if they are lucky they'll end up at somewhere like Goodwill again. I've gifted/passed on two and my biggest problem with selling some of the others is deciding which ones go and how shipping now hampers the selling equation. I dislike the concept, but for practical reasons I may have to part out a few of them. 

Edited by Kasmos, 19 October 2024 - 07:15 PM.