What is a low serial number on a Gameboy and are they more desirable?
Well, interesting enough, I bought a Gameboy games lot that came with an original Gameboy. I got the lot at a cheap price, so the fact that it came with an original GB was just a bonus. Now that I'm looking at the device, I see that it has the Phillips head screws and is missing the service labels, which is rather indicitive of earlier carts, so I know that this was an early model.
The serial number on this device is "G10016590", which I assume means that it's the 16,590 Gameboy made in the "G1" or "G10" lot.
Is this a rather low serial number and does it add to the value? I'm not sure if collector's care about such things, but I found it interesting. I wasn't expecting such an old system. The Gameboy was rather hot when it was released back then (I remember) so I assume this had to have been sold in probably one of the first releases to stores within the USA, if my assumptions about the serial number is correct.
The serial number on this device is "G10016590", which I assume means that it's the 16,590 Gameboy made in the "G1" or "G10" lot.
Is this a rather low serial number and does it add to the value? I'm not sure if collector's care about such things, but I found it interesting. I wasn't expecting such an old system. The Gameboy was rather hot when it was released back then (I remember) so I assume this had to have been sold in probably one of the first releases to stores within the USA, if my assumptions about the serial number is correct.
Comments
Well, interesting enough, I bought a Gameboy games lot that came with an original Gameboy. I got the lot at a cheap price, so the fact that it came with an original GB was just a bonus. Now that I'm looking at the device, I see that it has the Phillips head screws and is missing the service labels, which is rather indicitive of earlier carts, so I know that this was an early model.
The serial number on this device is "G10016590", which I assume means that it's the 16,590 Gameboy made in the "G1" or "G10" lot.
Is this a rather low serial number and does it add to the value? I'm not sure if collector's care about such things, but I found it interesting. I wasn't expecting such an old system. The Gameboy was rather hot when it was released back then (I remember) so I assume this had to have been sold in probably one of the first releases to stores within the USA, if my assumptions about the serial number is correct.
To the average consumer, no. To a collector, maybe. More than likely, I'd price it the same as any other Gameboy.
Originally posted by: Guntz
Nobody has really decoded Nintendo's serial format, so it's worthless. The mainboard revision is far more important and indicative of age. It's also super easy on the original DMG, just open the battery cover and look inside the hole where the battery cover latch goes. You'll be able to read a code, "DMG-CPU-0#". # will be some number, lower means older.
DMG-CPU-04. Any links to where I can find details on the different values and what they mean?
Let me just ask you this. Do you desire one with a low serial number? Me personally, I don't care. I might care about hardware revisions if I read something interesting about that, but serial numbers don't really matter to me. I'd say the most important thing is to figure out for yourself if that's actually worth something to you.
I get your point but if Serial Numbers increase with manufacturing, in a pretty standard fashion, then this could be desirable to many. People collect for many different reasons and they like different characteristics on their collectibles. For some, low-counts on numbered items are preferable over numbers toward the middle. With that said, if "G10000017" showed up on eBay, and had moderate advertising, I bet it would go for way more than your standard Gameboy because that would be a really early Gameboy.
Just as a side note, I've seen people pay attention to these things, especially on dollar bills. I saw someone pay around $10 for a standard $1 bill because it had five "7"s in the serial number, and they weren't even consecutive, and I've seen other serial number oddities bump the price in other bills too. I haven't looked at the currency market in a while, but I also know that very low serial numbers (say, 1000 or less) can go for big money too. I know the currency collecting market is far bigger than the niche, Gameboy console market, but that doesn't mean that their aren't pools of people interested in this type of characteristic.
I get your point but if Serial Numbers increase with manufacturing, in a pretty standard fashion, then this could be desirable to many.
I don't know about "many." I'm sure some are out there, but you'd have to get 1) a low serial number gameboy and 2) wait for that person to come along.
I mean, low serial number NESes certainly have perked interest here, but it was more of an "oh, cool" type of thing rather than a "I'll toss you $3000 for that!"
I get your point but if Serial Numbers increase with manufacturing, in a pretty standard fashion, then this could be desirable to many.
I don't know about "many." I'm sure some are out there, but you'd have to get 1) a low serial number gameboy and 2) wait for that person to come along.
I mean, low serial number NESes certainly have perked interest here, but it was more of an "oh, cool" type of thing rather than a "I'll toss you $3000 for that!"
True, and much of what I said is very relative. IMHO, if a very-low serial numbered GB came to market (under 50) my guess would be that it would go for around $200 to up to $500. Again, it'd have to be somewhat advertised around places like here, but I could see it going for that range, which is more than $20-30.