The strange world of German cassette collectors

SEE UPDATE BELOW I was so intrigued to find someone paying over $100 for an old blank cassette tape that I've been looking into this shady network...
First up, I found German-based el355 who recieved 12 bids of up to $474.99 for his collection of 70 sealed tapes (including a Cobalt 52 and various Teac Open Reel gear). He was looking for $1,200, so he didn't sell.
His bid list is a who's who of the tape-collecting world, featuring big players like Jessydog (a rare US collector), who recently dropped $25 on a pair of BASFs, and efeler who spent almost $45 on a pair of Nakamichis.
The top bidder for el355's collection was another German, Heimoboris, who last month paid $112.49 for three Teac metal-reel cassettes. (That's one on the right, with the original $12.45 price sticker.)
Another American dealer is ceogc02 who also trades (inevitably) in WWII memorabilia.
I've been very disappointed not to find "Vintage Cassette Collector" magazine on the web, but this post (which does feature several Germans) gives a taste of what it might be like.
UPDATE So, most of the ebay links on this page have decayed, but a look at 'Blank Tapes' category in eBay shows that collecting is still going on: As I write, there's a "Sealed! Mint!" That's tape on Buy It Now for $30. Ten Sony Metal Masters recently went for $225.

Posted by Tom Whitwell.

Comments:

That's so awesome! I now have a new hobby to spend my money on...

# posted by

asmadeus : 4:44 pm

Hi. Someone turned me onto this site. I can't tell how old these postings are since the most recent ones only show a time, not a day, month, or year. So here goes anyway.

These TEAC cassettes with the metal reels weren't just a German thing. Here's a picture of a TEAC CDC90 I own, still in original shrinkwrap. I bought two of these back in either the late 1970s or early 1980s at a local stereo store for maybe four or five bucks each. Why oly two? Who knows. Maybe that's all the cash I had on me at the time. Knowing what they're worth (on eBay) now, I probably should have bought cases of them, but hey, "who knew?"

I have another one not in shrink wrap in a box of cassettes buried in a closet somewhere. I'll have to go digging for it. I was actually looking to buy some more, if there's any "NOS" (New Old Stock) laying around anywhere, but after researching them for days, the chances of that are probably nil. I'm not selling the shrinkwrapped one I have, but just came here to say this wasn't a German thing. These tapes were sold in HiFi stores in the USA decades ago.

They look particularly cool in one of Pioneer's "SPEC" system late 1970s cassette decks like the CTF-900, CTF-950, or CTF-1250, which didn't have a cassette "well" but the tape was fully out in the open when inserted into the deck for playng or recording. Look at those decks on eBay and you'll see what I mean

Not sure how to post a picture of the tape so I'll try a link to it and see if that works.

http://www.amigazone.com/images/june/cdc90.jpg

Hey Mr. Owner of this blog - if you want to grab my picture and display it on your site, feel free.

Harv

# posted by

hrlaser : 7:12 pm

I have been collecting cassettes now for several months. It's outstanding to find out i'm not crazy and alone on this although its scary too to think that I might graduate from 50 cent thrift store expenditures to 50 dollar drops on ebay (a mint casse oc-2na ends in 4 hours with an opening bid of 50! am i going to do it? I'm torn the outcome is in doubt.) Formerly a hardcore vinyl collector, I stumbled onto cassettes and their labels and now those private press country albums from the 70s don't feel quite so sweet; i'm thumbing through the tapes section of thrift/record stores instead. I have over 60 unique labels, many with multiple copies of the same. My conversations with my friends when making a mix tape with our records are now peppered with "well, we could use the c-90, but i've been thinking that the AD-C90 might have more character. And, actually, we might want to consider that Avanti c-60 I picked up the other day. " I might be crazy but there are others too. There is hope. If you are a collector and want to trade info on tapes drop me a line at dlambert@wesleyan.edu.

# posted by

Anonymous : 9:26 pm

I too am guilty of this weird craze, and I have to say, it was probably this initial blog post that got me started.

I threw out a box of the teacs about ten years ago. All the colors you could get, having worked every weekend in the late 80's to be able to buy them. I guess nostalgia doesnt really come into play in your mid 20's (which is when I ditched them). Now as forty approaches, I have probably spent many an ebay hour looking for new ones, and so far have acquired three Golds all still wrapped.

I have no idea what the fascination is, but you can not deny, that in this age of mass produced mp3 crapness, they do look not only original, but pretty sleek as well.

As a walkman collector, I think the Teacs are the perfect compliment to a really nice personal stereo
(http://craigcrane.co.uk/walkman/)

Anyway, if my wife ever finds out how much time and money I spend looking for the old Teac studio 52's and cobalts at least I know who to blame.

# posted by

Craig Crane : 1:32 pm

thanks very:)
Eglence Forum, Paylaşım

# posted by

Anonymous : 7:13 pm

Nice blog on audio cassettes. Come on over and chit-chat with others at the Cassette Forum:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/CassetteForum/

Best regards,

K.J. Bleus

# posted by

K.J. Parsons : 2:02 am

well, here it is in 2009, and I'm still dubbing cassettes from FM, old LP's, other cassettes, CD's, and VHS Hi-Fi. In my opinion, digital IS the problem; analog is the solution. I believe this to be true as a societal, not techno thing. think about it...waiting for FF and RW, and watching those reels turn is hypnotic , calming and socializing. Have another beer...

But downloading MP3 stuff and burning CD's is like being a speed demon: a cult of antisocial, shallow, coked up kids who just don't know how to RELAX !! How can they? Every other minute, some techy corp. creates a new piece of unnecessary technology that just 'complexes' everything up in myriad ways. Not to say, ruins your bank account. There's a sucker born every minute, capish?

Ps: I've rolled my own PHC shows since, what, 30 years ago, on various equipment. Most are full length 2 hour FM shows; not the 'streaming tid-bit' crap that NPR tries to sell you. So if anyone out there is into PHC, and into cassette, I'd love to trade for episodes I don't have. Ciao.

# posted by

Anonymous : 10:16 pm