"99% of them are dead in garbage cans or in collections not being sold. "
I guess this is where the truth hurts. Stuff that doesn't get quickly preserved may be "lost."
I was saddened to hear a local arcade trashed a KOF96 PCB, and its "common" enough I could snag one at almost anytime.
But that's one of my "faults" I get a bit too weepy over hearing about "working" tech thrown in the trash because it means a lot to me even if the tech isn't "worth" anything.
I'm a sentimental softie (maybe fool) when it comes to tech.