My dad just bought a $3.00 Curta calculation machine at a yard sale

[mdmc]

http://www.hpmuseum.org/ffcurta.htm

This bad boy was actually designed in a nazi concentration camp!

[AwakeAtLast]

1. No way! I think those are so cool!

And to my knowledge, they never break, right?

[mdmc]

3. both my dad and i have "hands of Iron"

so we can basically break anything that we touch!

[Bushies gotta go]

2. wow, sometimes you can hit the jackpot at a yard sale.

What a find. Any idea on what it is worth?

[mdmc]

5. i think that it may be worth a couple hundred dollars

:shrug:

[WePurrsevere]

6. Depending on condition, etc... try a "few" hundred......

on ebay. http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&satitle=Curta

That's awesome though. We eBay sellers dream of finds like this. B-) Congrats to your Dad.

[Ian David]

8. For a neat trick, create a USB port for it...

so you can interface it with MS-Excel.

It wouldn't so much be for a useful purpose, but as a sort of "artistic statement."

[longship]

4. What a find.

Made in Liechtenstein, of all places.
Curt Herzstark was a real genius.

The Curta Calculator Page

[mdmc]

11. thanks for this link

:yourock:

[Ian David]

7. One sold on eBay with manual and case for over $900

http://cgi.ebay.com/CURTA-CALCULATING-MACHINE-T-II-CALCULATOR-W-CASE-MANUAL_W0QQitemZ7408785092QQcategoryZ20095QQcmdZViewItem

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. Oh, I know what those are.

I've never seen one, though, especially at a yard sale. I see that links to the various websites are already here. Congratulations at the astonishing find.

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Wow, what a find ... real history! nt

[tridim]

12. Very cool.. I love historical tech

It reminds me of my French made Beaulieu movie camera.. The Beaulieu 4008 ZMII



The thing is built like a Swiss watch. It worked great back when buying and processing movie film was cheap enough to be practical. Now it's just something I hold on to for the history. I'm positive it'll never have film run through it again.

[mdmc]

13. it looks like a radar detector!

[tridim]

14. Some called it "Barbarella's Ray Gun" back in the day

So of course I'll use it as an excuse to post a super sexy Barbarella pic..

[mdmc]

15. nice pic!

:kick:

[incapsulated]

16. Dang!

I live in the city and don't have easy access to the yard-sale finds!

Lucky him! :)