deskthority

Heya!

Has anyone heard from seebart recently?
He‘s been inactive for a while which isn‘t uncommon but a bunch of vintage keyboards popped up on eBay from a seller nearby his location that were confirmed to be his - down to the serial number.

And the seller was just some random 2nd hand warehouse ...

Somehow got me concerned. Sent him a PM and an email to the best address I had of him a few days ago but no reply yet. Would really like to know if he‘s doing well

I’ve a bad feeling.

A few years ago, I proxied him a NeXT keyboard, in German layout. We’ve traded a few times so I knew his address. He paid for shipping once I got it home, and so I boxed it up and sent it to him. But sometime later, to my surprise, it bounced back. I’ve still got it now. Haven’t heard a word since.

That was quite a while back. October 2018.

For the record: yes, I go dark real good sometimes too. It happens. But fail to collect a keyboard I already paid for? Unheard of! It’s a worrying sign, coupled with this.

Wodan wrote: ↑

25 Feb 2021, 21:33

Heya!

Has anyone heard from seebart recently?
He‘s been inactive for a while which isn‘t uncommon but a bunch of vintage keyboards popped up on eBay from a seller nearby his location that were confirmed to be his - down to the serial number.

And the seller was just some random 2nd hand warehouse ...

Somehow got me concerned. Sent him a PM and an email to the best address I had of him a few days ago but no reply yet. Would really like to know if he‘s doing well

Not good. I feel bad. I promised to sell him (at my cost) a working IBM 5140 portable with brown Alps which he had never tried in person. I got hung up on figuring out how to ship it from the US to Germany. This was just before he disappeared from DT. I still have this 5140 reserved for him

I've not heard from him. Last PMs are from 2017.

I'm trying to think if I ever sent him anything, and if I have his address or phone number. I didn't find it quickly.

I have exchanged some messages with seebart, too. From one point in January 2018 he would not respond any longer.

@Muirium: Have you googled his name? Did any search bring up some "useful" results?

Last PM late 2017 when I sent him a small part. I know he's posted here after that. Address, but no phone number.

ghostdawg187 wrote: ↑

26 Feb 2021, 06:48

@Muirium: Have you googled his name? Did any search bring up some "useful" results?

He's got quite a common German name, from what I can tell, with multiple hits even in his hometown. (I have similar issues with my own name in Scotland!) So my google-fu isn't quite up to it.

I've asked that some time ago on Discord but nobody could give me an answer. The seller you're referring to has by now sold a significant part of Seebart's collection. The very first keyboard he listed was bought by me, unknowing what exactly it was (wiki/Key_Tronic_Corp.19790) and to whom it belonged before. As soon as I found out, I contacted Seebart (without getting an answer of course) and also tried to get more information from the guy on eBay. He wasn't willing to tell me anything but that "this guy is the collector from which he got this and the other keyboards from". That was about a month ago and by now he has sold a lot of Seebart's boards you can find on his Wiki page.

I was concerned back then and am still now

How did the eBay seller get the keyboards?

Well, that’s the ultimate question. Two scenarios really. The good one is Seebart really got sick of collecting / some household emergency forced him to quit immediately and he just handed his stuff over to someone else to dispose.

The other one is what I fear to be the actual case. He’s not around anymore and whoever took ownership of his property had no idea what to do with his keyboard collection so just got some clearer in to empty the place.

Both paths lead to the kind of seller we see now. It’s where a lot of individual collections of all sorts wind up.

I contacted the vendor again. He responded yesterday and what he says doesn't suggest anything good.

He wrote:

"Moin moin.

Ich habe die Tastaturen allesamt aus dem Nachlass der Familie erworben.

Die Tastaturen und diverse Computer habe ich als Räumungsposten erhalten.

Ob der Verstorbene jetzt dieses Mitglied ist, kann ich nicht beantworten. Ich erhalte lediglich die Ware als Kaufangebot. Direkte, personenbezogene Daten erfahre ich nicht.

Beste Grüße
his name"

He got the boards from the estate ("Nachlass" --> estate, in the sense of the possessions of a deceased person) of the family, as clearing costs (I'm not sure whether this is the right word).

It kinda feels wrong to "announce" it like this, here, since we still can't be 100% sure. But all of this leads to believe that, unfortunately, Seebart might be deceased.

Sent: 05 Feb 2018, 18:53
From: seebart
Recipient: JP!

Nice work! Sorry for the delay, I have not been around DT at all recently due to family issues that need to be solved before I can continue with much else here, I may have to sell some of my KB-stash here sometime also...

Regards

Two close real life friends of mine have died since that message. It happens. Especially as the years roll on.

You really think he’d let a random liquidator handle the disposal of his collection? Has non-hobbyist relatives written all over it to me.

It’s nice to live in hope. But sometimes it is misleading.

How sad.

Since joining DT I had hoped to have a meetup after Covid somewhere in Germany and meet some of you long standing members, including seebart.

If he really did pass way – farewell seebart.

It's sad when this happens and the community can't give a proper farewell.

Muirium wrote: ↑

26 Sep 2021, 16:25

You really think he’d let a random liquidator handle the disposal of his collection? Has non-hobbyist relatives written all over it to me.

This seems to be something common. I've heard of collections destroyed and thrown into the trash when relatives don't know their value.

Seebart is dead?? What a tragedy.

Well, we'll all be dead soon. (sooner than we think)

Sad seeing longstanding members and their collections disappear completely. Reminds me of Blaise a few years back. His collection simply vanished from what I know, most likely thrown away by relatives.

I have only just seen this after my own few years AWOL , this is very sad news. Not much more i can say other than that, RIP friend.

Oh man, this makes me real sad. The last DM I got from Seebart was in 2017:

IBM 6298329

Sent: 25 Apr 2017, 14:46
From: seebart
Recipient: micrex22
Have a look at that keyboard I linked please micrex22 and tell me if you think that might be manufactured by brother also?

photos-f62/ibm-rt-e57888-t4101.html

wiki/IBM_6298329