Tuesday, March 13, 2012 — I’ve been back burning up eBay since the weekend began, and I’ve had several “near misses” on items I wanted to pick up.
Call it cabin fever, but I’ve got the itch for something new in the shack. I want a new receiver or transceiver to play with. In our home’s library, which in cooler months is our family’s center of activity, I have my trusty WWII-era BC-348Q and a Hallicrafters SX-130 receiver for monitoring shortwave and the ham bands. I have the hankerin’ for something else, but so far I’ve not been willing to plunk down serious cash to pick up what I would like to buy.
THE POSSIBILITIES. I still get the craving for a Drake TR-7 transceiver or a R4B receiver. I am attracted to the National NC-300/303 and the Hallicrafter SX-28 and the SX-101A. I’m a little leery of buying a boatanchor receiver that weights that much and having it shipped. That’s why I need to go to Dayton, hi! I almost snagged a TR-7 today, but it was a little rich for my blood.
AUCTION FEVER. One of the more puzzling auctions this weekend was for a 1962 Vibroplex Lightning Bug DeLuxe with a near mint carrying case. A Lightning Bug DeLuxe in good shape demans a premium price, that’s true, but this auction hit a mind-boggling $480! Apparently there was quite a bidding war going on for this key. A bidder, “OO,” was an early bidder with a $100 bid early in the week of bids. Four days later he enters a max bid of $200. At the $273 level, the bids were just between two bidders. The second bidder, “ND,” must have really wanted the key — with a flurry of incremental bids in the auctions’ closing minutes, he submitted a very high bid 90 seconds before the auction closed. “OO” kept fishing for the other guys’ top bid — six bids in the last 30 seconds! — but ran out of time at $480.
The key is superb and appears mint, as does the case. But $480 for a 1962 key? It’s a primo example of a perfect Lightning Bug DeLuxe, but I suspect I have a key just about as good that I paid substantially less. I think two folks wanted that key badly. That’s just a LOT of cash for a key that isn’t exactly rare.
Vibroplex is supposed to be bringing back the Lightning Bug out of retirement. I look forward to that day, and hope Scott Robbins will offer the “retro” finish (like on the 100th anniversary Originals) as an optional upgrade. I would reserve one TOMORROW if he would! In the mean time, I’ll just wait and wish!
SPEAKING OF BUGS. I’ve promised myself that one of these days I’m going to buy a 90-degree VIZ KEY bug. I still believe Vibroplex should considering buy up the VIZ key design and lines, and manufacture them. It would be a great addition to the long line of Vibroplex keys. Just sayin’ ….
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