Fare price on a Rol-A-Top?

[damikeguy]

This is my first post. I have found a 25 cent Watling coin front rol-a-top for sale. I looked at the machine and it looks all original to me. It has the original back door but is missing the lock. The coin box door has a lock but is missing the key. I works fine and the meck. looks clean. The reel strip glass is broke and the paint is about 50%. The chrome needs redone. The wood looks good. I want to give this guy a fare price but i don't want to pay to much. I have looked at the prices of what has sold on fle bay. Not much help. Any suggestions?

[Dave]

That is a hard question to answer.

Are you looking to flip it and make a profit? Are you going to do the repairs / restoration yourself? Does the machine even need to be restored? If it is a nice original then you should not restore it. I recently SOLD a restored Rol-A-Top on ebay for $3,200 and BOUGHT a very nice unrestored Rol-A-Top for significantly more than that (from a private party, not ebay)

If you are going to restore it yourself then you should know the Rol-A-Top is one of the hardest machines out there to restore properly. If you are going to pay someone to restore it then that will not be cheap (assuming you go to a legitimate person who knows what they are doing).

Go to www.AntiqueSlotMachinePriceGuide.com and look at what they have recently sold for.

If you could post some photos then that would be great.

[damikeguy]

Thanks for getting back so fast. I am looking to just keep it like it is. This machine is just one that I have always loved. I am restoring a blue castle front now. I only own 3 machines now. Looking for more. I like the original machines. The castle front was just too far gone.

[mechanic]

If nothing else replace the escalator glass and the reel glass, dont touch the J/P glass as it does not seperate like the old laminate glass does.

[damikeguy]

Will do. I also plan on going thru the mec and do a little cleaning and oiling. I'm pumped. I have wanted a Rol-A-Top for years. There is a good story that goes with the machine. I will post the story and a few more pictures when I get it back to my home.
Thanks for the advice mechanic.