Calculators Are Attracting Interest

Question: You’ve written about collecting typewriters. But is there collector interest in other pieces of office equipment?--N.F.

Answer: According to Darryl Rehr of Los Angeles, there is a “subculture of office equipment collectors” in this country.

Rehr, 39, a free-lance television news journalist and typewriter collector, recently wrote a pamphlet, “A Beginner’s Guide to Collectible Calculators,” in which he describes calculators worth up to $1,000. (He has also written a similar pamphlet on typewriters.)

“But I don’t want to disillusion people,” he said in a recent telephone conversation. “A $1,000 calculator is very, very rare.”

In the pamphlet, Rehr writes that “there are no hard-and-fast rules governing the collectibility of calculators, but generally speaking, today’s collectors collect anything that is non-electronic (that is, not driven by electric motors).”

To receive the pamphlet, send Rehr $1 and a self-addressed, stamped envelope, to 11433 Rochester Ave., 303, Los Angeles, Calif. 90025 .

Rehr also publishes ETCetera, a quarterly newsletter on typewriters and related equipment. Annual subscription fee is $15.

Of interest to car collectors will be North Hollywood auto auctioneer Rick Cole’s sixth annual “gold list” of collector cars. Cole calls his list for 1990 an index of the top 10 affordable automotive investment opportunities.

Cole’s list focuses on autos, currently available for under $25,000, that he expects to significantly appreciate in the next five years.

Cole’s current list: Austin-Healy 3000 (1960-67); Jensen Interceptor (1975-76); Triumph TR 2-3-4 (1953-67); MGA Roadster (1955-62); BMW 2800CS/3.0 CS Coupe (1971-74); Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spyder Veloce (1956-62); Chevrolet Chevelle (1966-72); Lotus Elan convertible (1965-68); Oldsmobile Starfire convertible (1961-65); and the Edsel convertible (1958-60).

For further information, contact Rick Cole Auctions and Associates, 10701 Riverside Drive, North Hollywood, Calif. 91602, or call (818) 506-6533.

Datebook

An autograph and manuscript auction--about 500 items valued at more than $1 million--is scheduled for May 26 at Superior Galleries, 9478 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles.

Items to be auctioned include President Lyndon Johnson’s executive order establishing the Warren Commission to investigate the Kennedy assassination; letters handwritten and signed by baseball pioneer Abner Doubleday; and other letters written by historical and literary figures. Also included will be space memorabilia, such as astronaut patches and the U.S. flag carried on the 1971 Apollo 15 moon mission. Items will be priced between $100 and $100,000.

“We’re looking to make people aware that historical documents like these are traded like coins and stamps,” said Ira Goldberg, a partner in Superior Galleries. “No longer are the museums and public and private libraries the only repositories of these historical documents.”