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Wardencliffe for Sale! Your chance to buy a piece of Tesla history! 1.6Million

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Chris Russell

Sat May 09 2009, 01:06AM

... not Russel!
Registered Member #1 Joined: Thu Jan 26 2006, 12:18AM
Location: Tempe, Arizona
Posts: 1052

Plasma Lover wrote ...

Chris, if you don't mind my asking, how much does it cost per year to keep this site running? I'm sure that it is a fair deal of money. Tesla has so many fans that I'm sure we would be able to raise the needed amount of money, collectively, in less than a year.

I don't like to get into specifics, but all told, it is well into the four figure range to keep the site up and running for a year. At this point, the costs are about 75 percent out of pocket, and the other 25 percent is covered by donations and the limited amount of reselling I've done on the server. Granted, I do not make a large play for donations, nor do I have donation drives, so there may be some untapped potential out there, but I'd still be surprised if the coiling community as a whole would be willing to finance a project that large.

To my mind, even if you could get costs down quite a bit, the only way to pull it off would be to involve the nutters who think that Tesla invented death rays / free energy / super-efficient wireless energy transfer / earthquake machines / insert loony claim here. Once they get into funding the project, they're going to expect some say-so in how Tesla is presented, and you run the serious risk of turning the whole thing into a massive joke.

It just seems to me like the potential gains do not outweigh the costs. That much money and effort could be spent on something that would have a lot more impact than another Tesla museum. Ideas that spring to mind offhand are a scholarship for coilers (in Tesla's name, perhaps), or a massive annual Teslathon, with sponsorships for those who can't afford to take the trip themselves.

Plasma Lover

Sat May 09 2009, 04:18AM

Registered Member #1911 Joined: Mon Jan 05 2009, 06:30PM
Location: Salem, Oregon, USA
Posts: 165

That's actually a great idea, Chris; a scholarship for those of us that build Tesla coils and aim to understand theory. It has great potential if gone about in a proper way. We would, of course, have academic requirements, but we could have the most successful engineering scholarship program in all of America, with some time. Let's not get OT, but I have to admit that this would be wonderful and that I would like to hear more of it.

Steve Conner

Sun May 10 2009, 04:41PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

Guys, I'm sorry, I screwed up Plasma Lover's second last post! I accidentally hit the "Mod Edit" button instead of "Quote"

I was just going to make a point similar to Chris's, there is no Tesla coiling community that has that kind of money lying around. Unless Dr. Spark and his gang in Arizona feel like getting another 12 mortgages between them! I doubt there's even enough traction to fund a scholarship program, let alone buy Wardenclyffe.

HV Enthusiast

Mon May 11 2009, 05:30PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068

I don't think the intention was for Tesla Coilers to "buy" the property, but rather that State or Federal government would step in and purchase as secure as a historical site. Doesn't mean there would be a museum or anything like that if that happened, but the land would be preserved from development.

ragnar

Tue May 12 2009, 03:41AM

Registered Member #63 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:18AM
Location:
Posts: 1425

Understandably, people are attached to Wardencliffe, but where is the tangible public benefit in snapping it up with public money, just for the sake of preventing development?

Money talks - if there is genuine private interest in the site, people are free to pool their resources together and purchase it... no? That is, unless enthusiasts don't actually want to foot the bill, in which case the interest is not so genuine

Cesiumsponge

Tue May 12 2009, 05:04AM

Registered Member #397 Joined: Wed Apr 19 2006, 12:56AM
Location: Western Washington
Posts: 125

The last thing we need is the government to waste more taxpayer dollars in mismanaging something else. If some investor wants it, there is nothing stopping them from buying it. It's been nearly a hundred years and the property has switched hands multiple times, but no one with the financial means thusfar is interested in turning it into a historical site.

Wardenclyffe was never completed nor successful, so from a general historical perspective, it holds no intrinsic historical value except as a minor footnote in the annals of American history. It only has worth to a small handful of people.

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