"Rare" Ge transistors, and what to do with them?

[Earthscum]

I found a possible gem in a local Flea Market. The other night my girlfriend and I went in to grab her some more prop stuff for her photography, and I just happened to turn around and see a diode in a jar of crap, so I looked. I bought.

I paid $8 for a jar of Germanium! I ended up with a couple popular transistors, a couple NPN's, about 30 OA85 Ge Diodes (giant pills!), a bunch of mystery diodes, a small bunch of little black tophat trannies (at work right now, but someone else on these forums bought a lot and had inquired... like 4JD1D1 or something close marked on them).

The transistors I'm wondering about are the 10 or so Motorola XN-2's. According to Transistor Museum:

"In fact, there was earlier experimental germanium transistor development at Motorola. The types XN-1, XN-2 and XN-3 were all developmental germanium alloy junction transistors, shown above, from the 1954/1955 timeframe.  These were all crudely constructed devices, requiring detailed hand assembly.  The metal case appears to have been hand soldered at the bottom joint.  The XN-3 appears to have a slightly more "finished" appearance."

I have about 6-8 XN-2's, 1 or 2 XN-1's, and a XN-3. They have them listed as "Rare" Availability. Also got a bunch of little phenolic sockets for them.

I also got a CK722 in the paper package (and another out). A Sylvania transistor (NPN), with the package, but the plastic shrink was brittle. I tried that tranny in a BF circuit. Sounds pretty decent, though fairly low gain, but it was just a slap-in on the breadboard, so I think it still has some potential to wring out of it.

I have a handful of other odds and ends germanium trannies from this lot as well. I am curious as to whether I should go ahead and just build with all these, or if there are some of these trannies I should be selling to fund future builds? I am one that hates to see an antique car go to the crusher, if ya know what I mean.

Any tranies that are extra rare that I should keep an eye out for?

This lot is strange... it also has a paper with a bunch of diodes stuck through it, and written "Motorola Diode Rejects" (or something like that). I think I got a jar from a factory worker who ended up with some stuff to take home to tinker with, or he had a friend that got him some parts from the factory. Just a guess.

[brett]

Hi
there aren't really any extra-good and extra-rare Ge transistors.  In fact, the reverse tends to be true - early devices are rare but are definately not as good as later devices.  Millions of high-quality Japanese and Russian Ge transistors were made in the 1970s and 1980s, and while they aren't particularly cheap (roughly $1 each), they aren't rare (you can sometimes buy them in boxes of 50 or 100).
Ge diodes (e.g. 1N60) are still being made and are sold cheaply ($10 per 100).
cheers

[culturejam]

I'd recommend selling them as your best option. Unless you're a golden-eared cork sniffer, in which case you should worship them. 

[Earthscum]

...
a golden-eared cork sniffer...

That's who I'd expect to buy them, lol. I'll probably just sort through them all and save the better gain ones and see if I can't get my $2 for the rest.

I figure I got at LEAST my $8 worth in ge diodes alone. The OA's are gigantic, and I have like 4 1n112's in big bubble glass with monster ends. Mojo for the geek. The 1n112's worked great in an octaver using a 4TM019 on the top of a MPSA13 (560R off the emitter, 100u emitter cap, 1M-1M biasing on the base). I'm thinking of using them in a permanent install since they look so sexy next to the transformer. May go with IRF510 instead, though. Gotta have a bigger tranny in there, and 1/2W resistors... lol.

There are a couple brass case radial diodes in the jar as well... haven't plugged them in or measured them yet, but they are pretty neat looking. Maybe use those in an octave box. I may have a pair of ancient power transistors as well. They look kinda like THESE. (about halfway down the page, the keg style ones with a single bolt and nut)

[Earthscum]

Sorry about the bad pic... it's with my phone, bad lighting, and I shook a bit.