CoinOpCollectorForum.com

How about those Columbias?

Working on a couple of 'em today...

Cool idea with the coins..... but now..... the cheap pot metal for some of the part sucks.'Dave

Are the Columbia slots gaining in value? I've got a couple that I've had for years and really like them! But they have always been super low in value. Now I see them on eBay with asking prices of $1,500.00 or more. I don't know if any of them are actually selling though?....
Anyway if they aren't broken they are really smooth running little machines. And the multi denomination thing is amazing for that time period!!!

Not so sure Columbias are gaining in any significant way, but on eBay it looks like the months of January and February were kind to them (see the slightly insane prices realized for items #230903110366, #150990613522 and #330856481893) while the vast majority of those asking prices you see are examples of stratospheric wishful thinking in my opinion. The "completed listings" are mostly dripping red.

And yes, they're lovable! I love 'em! They're brilliantly entertaining contraptions that-- like the despised late model Cailles-- can really keep collectors busy. You're really gambling when you play them! For instance, I converted a nickel machine to quarter play the day before yesterday, which was just as easy to do as they say, but found that the coins started binding in the rotary escalator. Turns out it was my fault-- as part of general PM after the conversion I had tightened a loose nut which was rattling around at the top center of the escalator, and loosening it back up again fixed the problem. That's the first time I've ever caused a malfunction by securing a loose nut!

buzzojoe wrote:Are the Columbia slots gaining in value? I've got a couple that I've had for years and really like them! But they have always been super low in value. Now I see them on eBay with asking prices of $1,500.00 or more. I don't know if any of them are actually selling though?....
Anyway if they aren't broken they are really smooth running little machines. And the multi denomination thing is amazing for that time period!!!

OK, how many collectors here have a Groetchen Columbia on the shelf that's jammed, or jams every five or ten plays, or sticks between symbols, or plays without a coin, or plays only every other coin, or spins the reels backwards (or hardly spins them at all), or makes a gawd-awful racking sound when played?

Can I see a show of hands--?

I might be able to help...

marsonion wrote:OK, how many collectors here have a Groetchen Columbia on the shelf that's jammed, or jams every five or ten plays, or sticks between symbols, or plays without a coin, or plays only every other coin, or spins the reels backwards (or hardly spins them at all), or makes a gawd-awful racking sound when played?

Can I see a show of hands--?

I might be able to help...

My hand is up! See my hand?
I am not a "Columbia" lover, or expert. Many models are neat looking, (as compared to those late 'Ugly' Caille's, that you mentioned earlier), but as most seasoned collectors know, they are bears to get running correctly. I bought my first
one, many years ago, just because my Wife thought it was cute, and wanted it. It was a super-nice, all original, and complete, nickle play. I must say, it is one of the smoothest & quietest running of all our slots. But, as any of you know,
there is No Such Thing as a PERFECT "Columbia". Every so often, the coin carousel will stick momentarily, and you will get a free play or two. Other than that, it is 'Almost Perfect'. More than I can say for a couple of others that I once had,
and got rid of. I don't even want to take them in for repair or restoration. I would rather save my Frustration for my own, if it were to go haywire. As for "reels that spin backwards", I have never encountered that action. Must have been a
export model for the UK! Or could it have been an Aust. export that an angry Kangaroo once kicked? Alright all my friends from over-de-pond, I'm just kidding!

SLOT DYNASTY wrote:As for "reels that spin backwards", I have never encountered that action. Must have been a
export model for the UK! Or could it have been an Aust. export that an angry Kangaroo once kicked? Alright all my friends from over-de-pond, I'm just kidding!

I say Sir! Just as well you added that disclaimer at the end,,, I was getting rather 'hot under the collar' for a moment there (being a dual UK/Aust citizen)...

Funnily enough there's a rather nice looking one on Aust fleabay at the moment - near me. Not worth AU$1800 though to me.
andydotp

Oh, BTW Bally produced a machine decades ago - a one-off with the handle on the left and backward spinning reels (Irish Raindrops??).

"Fleabay"! Can I use that?

Like I said, "disrespected." Yes, Columbias may be "cute" (and the G.W.Walker-designed Cailles may be "ugly" to the sort who find Lion's Heads and War Eagles and Polk figures somehow attractive?) but they're a dangerous breed nonetheless. I've had to deal with each of the malfunctions I listed-- including the backward-spinning reels, which is just one type of kicker problem-- but I was saving the "alternating" so-called "jackpots" for the punchline: they're like mousetraps with mice still stuck in them! At any rate, I hate to think there are so many machines out there suffering in the hands of other collectors who might go through what I've been through this week trying to get derelict Columbias running. I've discovered a few tips and even located a short, useful maintenance article in the January 1982 issue of The Coin Slot which I'll post here if anyone's interested.

marsonion: yes; please post that article.
I have 6 of these machines in my junk pile awaiting fix-up so I can unload them on flea bay.

I do have one nice one, a 10 cent machine, that is my keeper;
had it for many years and it's never been any trouble at all.

I have a really nice, gold award one that looks and plays perfectly. I'd LOVE to trade it for a "jackpot" version in the same condition! That being said I'm afraid to get rid of it because it DOES play so flawlessly....
I'd love to see the article also!!!