More Synapse madness!

Post by **deathtrappomegranate** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 5:06 pm

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 8154670873

This game has been fetching high prices this year...yikes!

Post by **Atari Frog** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 6:12 pm

--
Atari Frog
http://www.atarimania.com

Post by **Andre** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 6:38 pm

This is ridiculous.

ijor · Post by **ijor** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 7:31 pm

Wooww

I usually follow these auctions just for curiosity, but that one I missed. Yes, it is certainly ridiculous. But seems like those 2 guys (mshortland and peterolafson) have enough money and they are willing to spend. I think mshortland always overbids Peter, at least in the few Synapse auctions I followed. Might be it is the ex Synapse owner who didn’t kept originals from the old days???

I don’t know if you agree. But seems Ebay prices have only a small relation to rarity. The higher prices are not achieved for the rarest titles. But only for those titles that combine scarcity and popularity.

This is certainly not a rare game. Well, don’t know, might be boxed. But I have two (or I think 3) loose disks, plus at least one manual. Alley Cat is of course not very rare, just scarce and very popular. Mule is not rate at all, but it always sells for a high price. Bounty Bob is not that rare neither. All ECA titles always sell good, but some of them are very common.

I wonder how high was mshortland max bid !

Post by **deathtrappomegranate** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 8:17 pm

Rarity and price are correlated, but you're absolutely right that there is no precise relationship.

Some titles are widely popular, and some have particular importance for individuals.

It looks like these guys were both collecting Synapse titles at the same time.

I'm looking forward to buying Alley Cat NIB for $25 in 2006

ijor · Post by **ijor** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 9:14 pm

deathtrappomegranate wrote:I'm looking forward to buying Alley Cat NIB for $25 in 2006

You won’t be able, I’ll bid $25.51. But Andre will likely bid $27 and overbid me

One additional thought.

At these prices it might be worth to manufacture counterfeits. The only problem for the potential forger (fortunately to us), is that he won’t be able to sell many copies at that high price. Probably not more than four.

I have no idea about the real costs. But I’d suppose that making four boxes, labels and those ugly Synapse manuals should cost much less than U$2.000 !

Will we have experts in the future to authenticate vintage software (as there are for coins, stamps, picture, etc)? Hey, myself I could make a living expertising the disk content !

Btw, and no kidding now. Many original disks don’t have the original content anymore.

Post by **deathtrappomegranate** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 10:47 pm

Counterfeiting is already a problem in the world of vintage software.

There are some prominent examples, and a few people who sail very close to the wind.

This is one of the reasons for the watermarks on many of our scans. Of course, it's possible to remove them, but at least the forgers will have to expend some effort if they want to use scans from here.

Post by **Andre** » Sat Mar 19, 2005 10:08 am

ijor wrote:You won’t be able, I’ll bid $25.51. But Andre will likely bid $27 and overbid me

Post by **Andre** » Sat Mar 19, 2005 10:14 am

deathtrappomegranate wrote: This is one of the reasons for the watermarks on many of our scans. Of course, it's possible to remove them, but at least the forgers will have to expend some effort if they want to use scans from here.

...and in case someone managed to remove the watermark(s) and digital signatures we added to the scans then still the problem is left to reconstruct those little areas of the scans we usually touch up (take out some details or add something somewhere). Besides the forgery issue this also allows for tracking who is using our scans.

Post by **deathtrappomegranate** » Sun May 01, 2005 11:12 pm

Some more high-ish prices on ebay tonight from seller "profil.r".

Not quite as high now, since more of them are appearing, but still overpriced, IMO.

ijor · Post by **ijor** » Mon May 02, 2005 1:54 am

Amazing!

Sorry Andre for the outbid on Protector II (and btw, you'll receive the promised tests programs shortly).

But my outbid was nothing in comparison to the ones in other lots! Who is that mshortland? Somebody knows him?

Of course he must be wealthy. But it not just an issue of money. He must be a real Synapse fan. Might be a former Synapse programmer or perhaps even ex-owner (Mike Potter perhaps) ???

Otherwise it wouldn't make any sense. I never seen him bid, at least not that high in non-Synapse auctions. And there were some lots with titles much rarer than these Synapse ones.

Post by **Andre** » Mon May 02, 2005 8:23 am

ijor wrote: Sorry Andre for the outbid on Protector II

Bad boy

No problem, I have this game already - but my box looks a bit worn.

(and btw, you'll receive the promised tests programs shortly).

Good news!

Who is that mshortland? Somebody knows him?

Not personally, I afraid.

Post by **Atari Frog** » Mon May 02, 2005 8:25 am

It's been a while since I checked eBay, do you have links to the finished auctions with the rare titles?

Thanks!

--
Atari Frog
http://www.atarimania.com

Post by **deathtrappomegranate** » Mon May 02, 2005 9:06 am

http://search-completed.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZprofilQ2er

Post by **Atari Frog** » Mon May 02, 2005 9:18 am

Apart from one or two titles, this is just plain crazy

--
Atari Frog
http://www.atarimania.com