Are high end machines leaving the USA?

[Dave]

Do you think we will see many high end machines start leaving the USA and going to Europe or Canada because the dollar is so weak thus making stuff cheaper (for them)?

I know of one high end machine that has already left the USA.

I wonder how many others have left and if there will be more to follow. The dollar is so cheap these days that collectors outside the US might find the high end machines now a bargain.

Sadly (for US collectors), once these machines are out of the US it is doubtful they will ever return.

I guess that is good for the people (in the US) who already have established collections because it will only make their stuff more valuable because it is now harder to find. However, it could be rough on the person who is still trying to build their collection.

Obviously, there is nothing we can do about it.

I would be interested in hearing other peoples thoughts.

Daev

[Mills]

Dave,
remember in the 80's, many american collector came in France to buy Old slots machine. Why ? Because dollard was hight and slot in france costed nothing !!
The second reason was french slot worked with 1 Francs coin.... and 1 Franc coin is the same size of 25 US cents ! So many americans bought french slots to sold it in USA as 25 cents machine ! (I saw it is very expensive in your country)
Many of Rol aTop (bird of paradise, Jennings in the 30's for exemple) you find in USA with 25 cents denomination was in france there was 30 years ago...

Personnaly, I bought 2 slots machine in USA by ebay, but with french customs, I will not try again (slot machine are forbiden in france....)

[Dave]

I was not that active in collecting until the late 80s so I didn't really know that. I do know that the $.25 Rol-A-Top Birds of Paradise that have skill stops and that show up periodically at shows here in the US probably came from France.

When I was talking about the machines leaving the US I was not thinking of eBay. Rather machines being bought at major auctions (VCA) and also at the shows (ChicagoLand).

I would really be reluctant to buy a machine via eBay that was out of my native country. Just too many scams going on with eBay and they are doing nothing to prevent them.

[daveslot]

Dave,
remember in the 80's, many american collector came in France to buy Old slots machine. Why ? Because dollard was hight and slot in france costed nothing !!

i remember in the 70s here in the UK,one antique dealer was sending out a container of old slots every month to the USA, a lot of machines here had come on the market after the coinage had changed. i suspect a lot of your early 50c manchines had a previous live here on the old english penny. i am trying to buy them all back!

[drjukebox]

Most all old slot machines that we had in Sweden were sold back to the US in the late seventies. A man named Styf bought them up and shipped them out.
I sold my only Swedish Rolatop to Florida 7 years ago when the US$ was a lot stronger. The exchange rate varying so much means there will be a flow back and forth between countries and continents. You guys bought London Bridge, didn't ya?
Now the Russians are strong buyers here - when they want something, price is not a problem. One Swedish museum went to Russia (mechanical music machines), another to Macedonia (slot machines), and one to Italy (toys). All million dollar collections.
I only object when something that is made locally and also unique is exported. There are regulations meant to stop it, but...
I have seen quite a few coin-ops with Swedish coin denomination in various parts of the world. Antique arcade, one-off, hand-crafted in Sweden with Swedish instruction plates. Makes me a little sad - wish interest was higher here.
But generally I have found that it makes sense that the good stuff goes to whoever pays the most. Then they may also be willing to spend the money to research and take care of what they have.