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A man who spent his teenage years fascinated by supercomputers during the 1980s home computer boom is now selling one of the UK’s most unusual private technology collections through a Wiltshire auction house.
Dan Goldsmith, who runs his business in Watford, is putting three historic Cray supercomputers up for auction through RWB Auctions in Royal Wootton Bassett after owning some of the machines for more than 20 years.
The collection includes the Cray T3D, believed to be the first of its model line and once recognised as the fastest supercomputer in Europe, alongside two other historically significant Cray systems. The machines represent an important period in computing history as technology shifted towards the kind of massively parallel processing still used in modern high-performance computing and AI systems today.
Dan first became interested in large-scale computing after reading about Cray machines in PCW magazine as a teenager. His fascination with computers started even earlier when he was jokingly offered an old mainframe machine that was due to be scrapped.
“I was a bit of an IT nerd growing up,” said Dan Goldsmith. “I was offered this old mainframe as a joke because nobody thought I’d actually take it. But I did, and I ran it in my home for about three years. I could only have it switched on for half an hour at a time because the room got too hot!”
As he built his own IT business, so did his ambition to one day own the famous Cray supercomputers he had admired for years.
That opportunity eventually came when the University of Edinburgh decommissioned around 19 tonnes of older supercomputer equipment to make way for newer systems, including two Cray machines. Dan successfully bid to take on the equipment, arranging specialist haulage trucks to transport the systems from Scotland.
Dan later bought another of the Cray systems as an empty chassis after it had been stripped and disabled before disposal. He then worked with former Cray engineers to help restore the machine over time.
“These machines completely changed the direction of supercomputing,” said Dan. “When I first read about them as a teenager, they felt almost mythical. To actually own them was something I never imagined would happen.”
After more than 20 years of owning and preserving the systems, Dan has decided the time is right to part with the collection. He said seeing the sale of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Cray collection last year made him realise there was growing interest in preserving important pieces of computing history.
“This is one of the most unusual collections we’ve handled at RWB Auctions,” said Gareth Wasp, Head Auctioneer at RWB Auctions. “The historical significance of the machines, alongside Dan’s personal story and the effort that has gone into preserving them over the years, makes this a really fascinating sale. We’re expecting interest from collectors and institutions both in the UK and internationally.”
The sale is live now through The Saleroom and ends on 31 May at 6pm BST.
View the auction catalogue at https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/rwb-auctions/catalogue-id-rwb-au10062
Article from Scott Media
