[Jeffhs]

I just saw the pics of that Maggie console. Nice looking set; even better, it works--TV, radio, phonograph, everything is in A-1 shape, according to the description. Someone is going to be very happy winning the auction for it, although the winner is going to have to find a space about seven feet long in his/her living room for it, as this console, like all the 3-way theatre units, is just that big (witness the later Maggies of late-'60s vintage with 25" rectangular CRTs, full remote control, etc., in their huge cabinets). I could never fit something that big in my small apartment, but then again, I can get the same theatre effect by routing the audio from my cable box through my stereo system (sounds great on the digital music channels on the cable system here, not to mention musical productions on PBS, etc). My TV isn't nearly big enough, at 19", to qualify as a home theatre component (and I don't have a DVD player yet--still using my VHS VCR), but the system is plenty good enough for my purposes. Fits very nicely along one wall in my apartment. Even if I could afford and had the room for that Maggie console, I would not bid on it for those reasons. In this day and age of bookshelf stereos, entertainment-center cabinets and mostly table-model TVs, who but a collector with a lot of room and money, not necessarily in that order, would bid on a huge and old set like that?

IMO, $475 is probably as much as this console would have sold for when it was new 39 years ago. However, Eric H. is probably right about the price being too high for a set of that vintage being sold today. I think the seller is like many beginners on ebay, not knowing much about auctions and just wanting to get as much money as possible from the sale.

I shudder to think as well what the shipping charges for that console will be for any distance over about 10 or 20 miles. Perhaps that's what Eric H. meant by his remark about the price; the opening bid, which almost certainly will have gone up by the time the auction ends, plus the shipping charges (which, I am guessing, would probably be well over $100 if the console is to be shipped any appreciable distance from Georgia) will add up to some figure many of us cannot afford. It would not surprise me if the winning bid is something in the neighborhood of $600 or more. Add those sky-high shipping charges, and Eric H.'s observations as to the final price of this auction make a lot of sense.