I am in doubt

[Captain Video]

Someone appeared with a 1957 Philips TV set. This is a pretty rare set here. The set is cheap and complete with back cover... BUT there's a tragic, unsolvable problem: the cabinet is compromised because of a termite infestation - really compromised, it cannot be saved. This infestation is so serious, the cabinet is so damaged that it's very certain that the cabinet will not survive shipping ( it's in another state ).

Should I buy it anyway??? Very few of these 1956/57 Philips survived here, they are very, very rare. Although the cabinet is a lost cause, I could grab it for the parts - not only electronic components such as chassis and CRT ( but I don't know if the CRT is good and the seller has no way to test it ), but also for cosmetic parts as well - the back cover, the knobs, the escutcheon, the CRT bezel... maybe I could trade them with another collector someday, or maybe ( although that's unlikely ) someday I might found another set like this and those parts might be useful...

Someone could suggest that I could build another cabinet. I really don't like this idea, because the custom cabinet will never look like the factory-made one, and the reason I collect TVs is to preserve itens of the past as they were.

The thing that scare me the most is the high danger envolved in shipping such a termite-ridden TV. The cabinet is really falling apart, and if the seller don't pack the TV very carefully ( both outside the TV and inside the TV, stuffing the inside with things like foam, to protect the CRT - the CRT is mounted on the cabinet ) there's a serious risk of, for instance, the CRT arriving here completely shattered.

Again, this is a rare television, and it is cheap, but I cannot avoid to think: do I really need that sort of headache??? To take this TV is like going to a junkyard and buy a car that cannot be restored just because of the rare parts that someday might be useful. If the car was a 1980's car it would not be worth the trouble, but the case of this TV is like it was a rare 1920's car that was made in very small numbers. Still, I am unaesy about this - I don't like going through all the uncertainty and anxiety about will the CRT arrive intact or not??? If it doesn't arrive in one piece I will get this feeling that I threw money away, and I don't like this.

If this TV were only a block away from me, none of this would be a concern, but it is 700 kilometers away, and it will have to face a long trip inside of a truck to arrive here. It's very risk. Maybe I should contact a collector who lives closer to the TV and see if he's interested... possibly it makes more sense.