How I almost gave away $300 this weekend by being careless

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Several years ago, a friend, who knows I'm an audio geek, gave me an original Acoustic Research AR-XA turntable. To most of you, that doesn't mean anything, but it's a really good turntable that came out in 1969 or so. At that time, it cost something like $87. My friend, a retired veterinarian and current music buddy, said he'd had it in his closet for decades, and had no idea whether it still worked. Last week, I almost offered it to a Vietnamese fella who buys vintage American stereo gear here and sends it to Vietnam, where it can be fixed for a song and then sold for good money to Asian audiophiles. I've done some loudspeaker refinishing work for him, and was going to let him have it for $50, untested. Then, on a whim last night, I fixed the broken wooden base, oiled the base up, set the turntable up, and listened to it playing a familiar Jesse Winchester record through my NAD preamplifier and Sennheiser headphones. It sounded great!--just as good as my fancier turntable in my main system. Next, I went to eBay to see what these things are selling for these days. I figured it would be in the $150 range. To my surprise, early AR-XAs are going for anywhere from $300 to $450, depending on condition. It turns out that they're revered by vintage audiophiles, and that the cat is out of the bag about how good they sound. Mine has no dust cover, but it works perfectly and looks almost minty, so my guess it's worth about $350. The lesson: If you have something old and cool around your house, be it a 1960s KLH radio, an old Singer sewing machine, a painting by an unfamiliar artist, or old stereo gear, don't "give it away," unless it's to someone you love. Check eBay and other sources to see what you have on your hands. I'll be keeping this old turntable for now.