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Commodore C65 Serial No 42 2022, Sale Price

Updated 27 February 2022

A rare Commodore C65 prototype microcomputer was sold in 2002 from what was described as an estate sale. The seller described the Commodore C65 as is nice physical condition except for six key and keyswitches missing. The item does not include a power adapter. The iconic Commodore C65 case does not close properly. The floppy drive unit does not eject disks properly. The pictures show a prototype unit in reasonably complete condition.

Commodore C65 eBay Listing 313821179657

Ebay Listing 313821179657

Described as a Commodore C65 for sale in the listing as:

Nice physical condition except that the 6 key and keyswitch are missing. Unit is untested and does not include an AC adapter. Left side of top case does not completely close. I put a floppy disk in the drive and it would not completely eject using the manual switch so I had to disassemble the drive to get the disk out. Does have the number 42 on the board so I think this id the production number. Unit does have a couple of chips missing as shown in pics. One is a ROM chip and the other is what is called a VIC III proprietary chip. The unit would need these chip to be runnable. Unit has one screw on the bottom above the screws for the floppy drive and does not have holes for any other.

It is always very exciting when a fresh Commodore C65 comes up for auction on one of the major sites. Each Commodore C65 is unique and special. I do not think that this important that the machine is a non-working prototype. Many of the Commodore C65s had different versions of code because they are different development stages. The Commodore C65 never completed development and so no machines are actual full retail quality packs. I am hoping for the new owner that they can find the missing keys and install a working drive. There are development chips that may need to be copied from other machines. As this is a prototype, there is no guarantee that the motherboard is fully functional either. But what a machine this system would be to own.

eBay Auction Results

The eBay auction listing for this Commodore C65 shows that the listing started on 5 January for a standard 10-day auction. There were no takers on the auction for the length of the auction until the last day. I do not know how many watchers there were but there are usually numerous lurkers for a headline auction like this. On the last day there were 11 bids between two bidders. It looks like the later bidder was attempting to snipe the auction. Numerous auto-bids were made until the fall of the auction hammer. The final sale price came in a USD$16,723.00, including postage.

Commodore C65 eBay Listing 313821179657 auction bidding history

Source: eBay Auction listing

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