Showing posts with label Bell and Howell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bell and Howell. Show all posts

Monday, June 9, 2014

Antique Stores in Duluth, MN

We took a short weekend trip to Duluth on a whim. Like really short, as in we were back home 26 hours after we started driving. While hanging out ny the lakeshore shops, we did stop in a couple of Antique Stores. Recently I still like going in to Antique Stores, but I find myself buying less and less, mainly because of the markup. Since I'm amateurishly in the same business, there's not always a great chance of turning a profit from something you find in an antique store. That being said, there's always a chance to find something different.

The first find was great, a Bell and Howell Autoload 8mm film projector. 
I'm a huge fan of Super 8 and 8mm films, so it was nice to get a working 8mm projector. (There are lots of differences between 8mm and Super 8mm film, we'll tackle this on a later post. For now, 8mm is the older format, Super 8 became popular in that 60s and 70s) 

The bulbs alone can resell for $15-20, so I'll always ask to plug them in before purchasing.

This one plugged in, powered on, and the mechanics worked. With a $15 price tag, I bought it instantly. The resale value on projectors isn't great, it seems there are more projectors for sale than films. Given the annoying shipping costs, 

The next store I stopped in was brand new, only their second day of business. The store was half set up, but no customers. I quickly found some overpriced NES Nintendo and SEGA Genesis games, but tucked away with them were a couple Atari 2600 games. I've never sold any of my old video game systems, starting with an Atari 7800. Come to think of it, my Atari 2600 was a garage sale find when I was 9 ($15 with 20 games!)
I don't actively buy and sell video games, but it's hard not to grab a couple Atari games when they're $1 apiece! Looking at eBay, Donkey Kong is worth about fifty cents, Joust has sold between $3-$6, and Star Trek, which is never heard of, is a little but rarer, selling for about $15-$20. Still haven't decided if I'll sell any of them. 
That's always the tough choice when finding stuff you like: Keep it for a collection or get the most money outbid it. Since I'm still at the "hobby" stage of reselling items, there are still some things I like to keep, space permitting. The Projector will be a great addition, since I've only been able to view 8mm reels in an editing machine. It'll be a lot nicer to watch them projected to grade them for resale. As for the Atari games, a $3 investment to add 2 classic and one random game to the collection isn't too bad of an a wallet bite.