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Boot fair bargains?

Gadget

By Gadget
in The Astro Lounge

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Gadget

Gadget

Posted
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Hi All

Just wondering if anyone has been lucky enough to snag a real astro bargain at a boot fair I don't mean the astro fairs but the general boot fairs that pop up where peeps just clear out the old junk and have no idea what they are really selling maybe someone has picked up the odd nagler etc for a few quid in the bargain box? If it seems there is a few astro bargains at these places to be had I will have to start getting up early to check them out

Kev

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John

John

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I've had a couple of pairs of binoculars and the occasional book but that's about it. The sort of scopes you usually see for sale are cheap and cheerless type that their owners have used once then given up on :)

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yeti monster

yeti monster

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My Prinz newt was bought from Todmorden flea market, many, many moons ago, for about 15 earth notes. I almost bought a quite decent spotter last year, but the vendor wouldn't come down the fiver I needed him to, as I'd already spent my pocket money.

I may nip over today and have a gander, as you never know what treasures may be found............

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Doc

Doc

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Not really astro but I have sold the following.

Tashica T4 camera bought for 20p sold for £45

Konica C35 rangefinder bought for £1 sold for £16

And I have a Lomo LC-A bought for £3.50 hoping to get at least £50

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NGC 1502

NGC 1502

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Had a few astronomy books from boot sales, but my best was a Philips planisphere for 20p, even though I'd already got one, couldn't resist. But if I saw an Ethos for a fiver, I'd be very suspicious......Ed.

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Doc

Doc

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I find that as many people are now digital you find quite a few film lenses that can be used on digital cameras with suitable adapters.

These normally go for just a few pounds each. I picked up a M42 Pentax F1.8 50mm lens which when placed onto my 1000d makes an awesome portrait lens.

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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Used to boot semi professionally (mother & Baby and Toys at Alton and Newbury, Bric a Brac and Antiques at Gloucester and Winchester, office supplies and computers at Portsmouth).

Used to make a fair bit of cash from it at one time as an adjunct to my day job and hobby - never saw any astro gear that was worth having but I used to acquire a lot of gold from boots where people assumed it was junk - also used to buy lots oif stuff off the 'Jeremies and Jacastas' (Frightfully nice green welly wearing people in Range Rovers without a clue) and bash it back out again at a decent whack.

My biggest haul was buying on instinct a huge haul of Airsoft Guns in a liquiduation sale for £5 a go and being able to hose them out at near on £50 a unit - sweet.

These days its all too regulated and people expect too much - you get people carrying on as if they are in Harrods and to be honest I cant be bothered with the aggro.

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wayne weedon

wayne weedon

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Around here (East Dorset)the Eastern Europeans seem to have taken over the Boot Sales. But I feel ebay has sometimes become the new boot sale, even though I trade on there I also use it for purchases and also disposing of more specialised personal items.

I used to collect old 80's Computers and bootsales were the place to find them. They are no doubt more viable to sell via ebay now though.

Wayne....

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wayne weedon

wayne weedon

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So did I! ...and just before, my 1st experience with computers was building a UK101 (6502 based) in 1979, and that was when my geek period started! I stopped being a hacker (used in the original positive meaning BTW) in about the mid 90's.

I however can sometimes still be caught dabblling with the odd Microcontroller when the mood takes me.

But I missed those days in a way. It was possible to do so much with so little and the hardware was so accessable.

All the old stuff bar a couple machines with sentimental value are long gone, mostly to the local tip before that became a beurocratic nightmare!

Wayne.....

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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I picked up an Apple Lisa at one time and I used to have two Compaq portables of the large kind - the ones with CRT screens in them but Thyey were all skipped when I moved - just didn't have space for them and the Lisa had some problems with its PSU.

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wayne weedon

wayne weedon

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Likewise with the Osborne 1 I had. Damn things are very collectable now. BUT I am sort of glad they are gone. They took up a lot of room even in the attic. When we last moved I had to make some tough decisons! I recall the two Xerox 820's I had with 8" SASI hardrives (I was a cp/m junkie for a while!). They took some lugging to the tip!

Anyway back to the subject, I guess in a way our current and 1st telescope as purchased on evilbay could of easily been car boot stock a few years ago. Its a 1999 Orion Europa 150 f5, apparently according to Orion one of the very first ones.

Wayne...

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