FORUM

I'm sure I've seen at least three reproduction Bryan's Ripplers appear on ebay in the past month alone... could even be four... I don't think they're all the same one readvertised but correct me if I'm wrong.

Just curious, but where are they all coming from ???

They are all definitely different listings. As far as I can figure, the first repro went for around the price you'd maybe expect for an original (if one ever came up!), so then everyone with a repro decided it was a good time to try and get a good price for theirs while the goings good! However, I have heard that an original Rippler may be coming up on ebay, so maybe the last buyer will end up having the last laugh!

<SNIP> I have heard that an original rippler may be coming up on ebay

I'll start saving!

I think over 20 of them were made about 10 years ago.

Original Rippler for sale, where are they all ?? Must be one up for sale one of these days, the repros as there was not that many made are going to be worth more than the originals.

You're talking black and white. Collecting is not as simple as that: 'never has been'. The public decide the price, less there are to buy sometimes lifts the price. In my view, trying to buy something before it starts to be worth more money is the key. Wish I had known that in the 70s !!! Antiques, for example china or paintings do come into fashion and out over the years, as for the Rotomint, the German ones made around 1960, they are really well made. I have a couple of those German type of machines myself. There were thousands of mass-produced type machines made. I don't want any more of these now, they are a bit boring, soulless. In my view, a lot of old American or English and French machines are better ....

Before anyone blames me ! I did not copy them !!

Nigel ~ Nostalgic

I'm amazed by these liitle Ripplers, I have one myself (not original) and they are really good repros, better than anything else I have seen out there. Whoever made them made a really good job. If they had made a Reetreva or Payramid as well in limited additions, how much could they have been worth now ???

Yes, another repro... Where's the original that was mentioned some time ago? I've been looking for it to show up

You could have a good photocopy of a Picasso on the wall...but it's still not a Picasso! Rippler's are'nt a fantastic machine to play, but an original is a rare historic machine that really was a pre-cursor for the Payramid. So, as a collector, I think an original has some real value..but I think a copy is worth less than a Rotomint (just look at what's in one of those for a lot less than the repro Ripplers are being bought for). And finally, how come the debate about repro Ripplers is getting so much attention when other strands on the forum have just dried up

I agree with wakeupsmellthecoffee. If a Rippler were'nt a Bryan's machine no one would give it a second glance, so if it's a repro (and so not a Bryans machine).... no one should give it a second glance. The only reason all the repros have come out is that one went for DAFT money and everyone who has one (or two, or three etc.) has hoped that there's would get the same price. By the same token, everyone who has bought a repro is thinking they got a real bargain compared to the first repro one that sold... I'm gonna get me a Rotamint....

That Rotomint says it all, fur coat ' no knickers !!! ' bland German machine. They only made good ones from early 1900s to around late 40s, it all went down hill after the war for the German slot machines.

Yes... but not that particular Rotomint! ugh!!!!

Whoah! That's fighting talk. I couldn't disagree with you more.

Ok many of the pre-war German machines are Golden age classics but the "coffee-house style" products of the mid to late fifties are definitely silver age.

There was no other period like it in the history of the industry. West Germany's rapid post-war manufacturing recovery, partially aided by the Marshall Plan which allowed raw material imports and the Morgenthau Plan which steered the economy from heavy to light industry, brought a positive explosion of small and large companies producing an astonishing variety of mechanical and electromechanical games. Lots of weird and wonderful things came out of Germany in those years. Remember those delightful bubble cars from Messerschmitt and Heinkel?

Certainly the machines were quite distinct from everything that went before and to anything made at the time in Britain or America. Whereas British '50s wall machine design looked back to the "good old days", the German offerings were innovative and pointed to the future (maybe what some don't like about them).

Whether you like them or not is personal, but I'm glad in a way that "serious" collectors still shun them. It means I can afford to buy one occasionally. And I like them a lot. I like their diversity, strong deco designs and attractive wood veneers. And in terms of engineering, they are in a different league. As Jim Bryan once commented when he saw a Duomat in the back of my car "they put us to shame don't they."

PS. I quite like that Rotomint.

The Ripples continue on eBay: RIPPLER ' RARE SLOT MACHINE '.

How rare is rare?

Well a repro Rippler which (excuse me if I'm wrong) in my opinion this one is, is as common as you care to manufacture them. An original is pretty rare and you can't really increase the actual historical production/survival rate. Question is, if you ain't going to find an original, how much do you pay for a copy...seems on ebay that figure varies considerably.

Guess like a lot collectors out there, I have a Bryans collection of machines, about twenty, but don't think I will ever own a Rippler. They seem far too rare and the lack of the originals are keeping the remade Ripplers up. I have been looking at the remade Ripplers on ebay during the past year or so. They sold on ebay for £800 '£1200 '£695' £420. May have missed another one out to my list. All were in various conditions, good to excellent. Looking at the pictures, they do look very well made and I will end up buying one someday, but the real key to the value of the Ripplers is they're not like the reproduction nostalgic allwins which are still being made today and don't really look or feel like the originals and are made in their hundreds. The remade Ripplers seem to have been made in one production run and not very many machines were put onto the market. Some people like them and some don't. The collector pays the money and makes the choice.

Rippler topic merged - Site Admin
Following the recent glut of Rippler copies on eBay, one is being auctioned which appears to be an original. The number is 6178608085 and it will be interesting to see what it gets. My guess is around £800.


Vince