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SLOT DYNASTY wrote:A follow-up from my July 7 entry above, is posted below.
To all serious collectors. Especially new people in the coin-op hobby:
The following is not a reply to the above, but is a new warning to all, that may be thinking of bidding on the upcoming VCA auction, on Oct. 12, 13, & 14. As always, more BOGUS Trade Stimulators are making an appearance on the block. First, is lot #301 – A Groetchen “Penny Smoke”, (that thank God, did not get the name ground out of the top casting to put another recast nameplate on). Instead, it has Phoney made-up reel strips, with cigar bands glued on them, and an equally-as-Phoney made-up award card. This paper Never existed on any original machines. Also, the front casting is not an original match to a Penny Smoke model. The paint colors are not even close to original, and look child-done. Second, is the following lot #302 – Which is another Groetchen model that has had the original name ground out of the top casting, to place the recast Tavern name, and then the repro strips & card to match. Again, the paint colors are nowhere near correct, and look atrocious. The Third, is lot #581 – and is the second-worst BASTARDIZATION job I have ever seen this clown do to one of these models. The first one I seen, sold on eBay, on July 8, 2012, and sold to some poor soul for $1,582.57 That would have been a decent price, if it had been left in it’s original state. You can read my previous notes on this example above, as eBay auction #221062287929. The one that is on the block now, is even a worse Phoney than the previous one, which had a marquee with a made-up “Play Ball” card in a frame from another mfrs. model. This one has a recast “Baseball” marquee, that never came on this machine. You can still see the holes where the original marquee was mounted, partcially hidden under the new, which had to have new holes made for the wider mount. The strips, card, and red label strip, are all made-up phoneys, that also never came on this machine. The Caille decals were never mounted on these case side panels. The Phoniest of all, are the two rediculous looking repro decals on the sides, which are only for the Gottlieb “Miniature Baseball” machines. The paint colors, are again, INCORRECT, and look terrible. He apparently read my comments about the previous machine having stupid-looking ‘swirl marbles’ in the view window, and put solid colors in this one. Yeah! That fixed it! As many calls that I get from people that have gotten Screwed with this Bogus Crap, this clown keeps right on pumping them out. As I have said before, the days are numbered, when he is going to Screw with the wrong person, that will surely ‘Clean His Clock’.
The sad thing, is that this person has bought 4 perfectly good original Caille machines, that I know of, and has been selling all the original marquee’s, strips, and cards on eBay, before Bastardizing them with all his Phoney Crap. You seasoned collectors, know what this does to the hobby. There are several other machines that he has purchased on eBay, that are liable to show up as other Made-up Phonies. Two of them were Superior “Cigarette Ball Gum” models, and the original strips & cards were sold on eBay as well. So, watch out! This all boils down to one word – GREED. Because some collectors seem to be focused on machines with a Beer theme, and Sports theme, and do not check first, to see what is legit. Oh yeah, now we got Cigars too!
There are also other repro’s in the VCA auction to be aware of, that are not stated as such: Lot #373 – Pace “Base Ball”. Lot #493 – Pace “Whiz Ball”. Possibly Lot #524 – Rockola “Official Sweepstakes” (It’s hard to tell from the auction picture, but many repro’s are out there). Both gumball & non-gumball models. Also, Lots #1086 & #1086A – Repro Mills ‘Owl’ side mint venders, with child-like paint jobs. The only item that I noticed, that listed as a Repro, is Lot #730 – “Smilin Sam” Peanut Vender. Another machine that is a restored original, and doesn’t look right, is Lot #588 – Rockola “Hold and Draw”. It appears to have been chrome plated, and painted a very incorrect Ivory color. Hopefully all these Bogus & Incorrect machines do not get hammered down at insane prices, like they have in the past. Those of you who plan to attend, just remember to look items over very carefully before raising that paddle. And please spread the word to all the unsuspecting new collectors in our hobby. There are many Great original hard-to-find machines in this auction, that should do very well. Good luck to all. Bill
Mike Gumula wrote:I just want to go on record as thanking Bill and the others that go out of their way to warn collectors about the problems with "repos" and "fantasy" machines, with regard to slots & trade stimulators, that someone just throws together and sells as being real. You are risking catching some heat for taking people to task that are actually hurting the hobby !
I just hope that the word gets out on a wide enough basis to help preventy new collectors from gettin burned.
Mike Gumula
Graham, NC
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