Interesting items in upcoming auction...

[pennymachines]

I agree with Jingle's comments. Youngerap wasn't asked to remove the links by me or the mods and I hope he doesn't feel got at. He was very generous to share the information with us. Regrettably, I doubt that Jingle or I will be following his public spirited example.

[badpenny]

I've found a machine that I'm thinking of buying; what is it worth? (And variations on the theme: What is it worth??)

Yup that's an obvious one, and my favourite one from that genre consists of a small fuzzy photo of the front of a machine and the question .....
Is this worth buying, is anything missing?

[gameswat]

Nah, best is: vague description with no photos at all!

[youngerap]

Thank you for your kind words, Jingles.

Please be assured that this thread has in no way intimidated me and neither was I requested to remove the links. Quite the opposite in fact as the contributions have been remarkably polite given that I blurted out to the world the existence of these auction Lots and quite possibly denied one of us the chance to purchase a rarity at a price we can afford.

This simply had not occurred to me, so it was a feeling of disappointment that led me to remove the links.

I created this topic purely because I was excited at seeing these machines and thought that others would also find them interesting. It seems I still have a bit to learn about hobby etiquette - particularly where auctions are concerned. Online auctions are in the public domain and I do not feel it inappropriate to discuss any interesting items on this forum, but I think my approach will be to either wait for the auction to end or to simply refrain from including auction links in any future posts.

[treefrog]

As I stated at the beginning of the thread, we are all deluded if we believe lots like this are not seen by large numbers of people, as they are clearly named and on a large search engine, this not being the only one.... The real challenge is when machines are miss-described, which can happen..... There you can be in a limited audience.... It would be funny if the floor standing Watling turns out to be a glorified drinks cabinet....

Having said all this, it is nice to see some rare machine come to the open market, even if these will be way beyond the average mortal's pocket..... I think I may just watch online on these ones as diesel is expensive.....

Internet coming to auction houses has killed the fun of the hunt and not just in our hobby, ask any antiques trader or serious collector. Gone are the days of getting that rare bargain.... It is only good for the seller and the auctioneers... Alas, so many people seem to take crazy risks bidding blind, which we all have done. At least we get to see them here, I guess, which would not happen if not online.

[badpenny]

Tom is spot on there.
I recall the two of us standing in an auction house in Lincoln about 9 months ago. Watching rotten and partly cased Günter Wolff machines and Jubilee empty cases being sold to internet bidders for hundreds.

J

[cheeky]

Could auction dates, locations etc. be put on the calendar? I know there are discussions surrounding what should or should not be disclosed but surely those responsible for the website should promote auctions of interest?

Not for me of course my Lincolnshire friends.

And discuss.................

[youngerap]

There is nothing to stop us as individuals from raising auction items of interest, but I do not believe the owner(s) of this site have any responsibility at all for the provision of such information. I am just grateful that we have such an excellent website available to us. Plus, it is free! I do not know of any other site to which one could go for the advice, information and humour (some of which I do not readily understand - no names mentioned, Mr BP) that is made so freely available on this site by so many expert contributors. Long may it continue.

[bandito]

I would like to 2nd the comment left by "Cheeky". Well said that man!
I won't be going to the Lincolnshire auction. Remember a few years ago a Jennings Club Chief in a console came up for sale at auction with, I believe, an estimate of £400? I went to that auction. As soon as that lot came up for offer, the auctioneer said there had been a lot of interest in the item and had 4 live phone bidders waiting to get the bidding started. The opening bid was £800 and quickly went to about £1350 and sold. I did not get a chance to even raise my card and get a bid in! It was not worth the £1350 someone paid for it in my opinion, and I went home disappointed as usual. I got a feeling that the the "Big Six" which I think is a Watling machine, may fetch a big sum of money. Even with a lot of its innards missing....after all, when was the last time you see one come up for sale over here????

[badpenny]

We do promote auctions of interest.
You'll always see the planned auctions supporting our hobby listed there. So your request puzzles me.
Your comment surely those responsible for the website should promote auctions of interest?
.......makes me wonder if what you're suggesting is we also list auctions such as the one that started this thread?

If so, that would be logistically a nightmare.
These are not slot machine auctions, they are provincial house clearance auctions dealing with low to medium value items that are entered quite randomly.
If you pay to subscribe to one of the websites that list "Local Auctions", and I don't; then you would see that in a month there may be as few as half a dozen machines offered in the whole of Europe.
The majority of them are poorly described or photographed and grossly undervalued in the estimate in order to attract interest from Internet Bidders most of whom seem to be perfectly happy to bid blind. I'll never be optimistic bidding against those people.

These auction catalogues are printed as close to ten or even seven days before they occur.
So, you tell me, is it feasible or even worth doing, when you can easily do it yourself.

As it is, we are all fishing out of the same pool regarding those advertised on this site, eBay, the Coventry Auction and the machines that pop up in the middle of the Elephant House auctions amidst random other lots.

Now it seems you want us to do your searching of small time local auctions in Europe for you?
Personally the hunt (no pun intended) and the chase are as big a part of the purchase as acquiring the item, for me.

All you need to do to find them yourself is to strap on your computer and find your way around Google, after a bit of effort and some embarrassing mistakes over the interpretation of the word "slot" you'll get there.

Job Jobbed!

BP

[cheeky]

.......makes me wonder if what you're suggesting is we also list auctions such as the one that started this thread?

Yes, that would be lovely. Grateful if you could buy me some machines too.

Call me picky but I don't expect too much....

[bandito]

Point taken Mr BP. When I have a spare 3 or 4 hours I do the searches for "slot" etc. and end up back where I started, then I end up falling asleep.....

[pennymachines]

Call me picky....

I call you Cheeky.
Besides, I knew nothing about this auction until I read it here.

[daveslot]

I did spot these before they were listed here and was looking forward to underbidding them, but you have saved me a trip to Lincolnshire to view these and dream about owning them. It's a shame they will probably leave these shores now.
The auctioneers are pretty useless with their estimates and there would have been a lot of disappointed punters. I also requested pics of the 3 lots and they sent me 4 pics of the same machine

[jingle]

I have been taking a good look at these
And there seems to be
A good lot of parts missing
If there not inside,,
These could actually end up as ornaments
Am treading carefully on these

[daveslot]

Remember a few years ago a Jennings Club Chief in a console came up for sale at auction with, I believe, an estimate of £400? I went to that auction. As soon as that lot came up for offer, the auctioneer said there had been a lot of interest in the item and had 4 live phone bidders waiting to get the bidding started. The opening bid was £800 and quickly went to about £1350 and sold. I did not get a chance to even raise my card and get a bid in! It was not worth the £1350 someone paid for it in my opinion

I remember this, it was quite special, an ex-casino machine on a rare 50c and a sweepstake model with light-up panels, all complete and original - quite cheap I thought.

[bandito]

Yes, it was on the old large 50p's and was, if I recall, from a casino in Gibraltar. Needed a lot doing to it to restore it. What I liked about it was the heptagon shaped coin entry for those 7 sided coins! First time I had seen one on a Jennings.

[daveslot]

It was originally a 50 cent machine being operated on old penny in Gibraltar, then an operator had adapted it to operate on the old 50p by soldering the shape of the coin, slightly bigger of course, into the old penny
entry as they are a similar size. Simple to take off, the slides hadn't been touched, they just messed with the award card.

[pennymachines]

STOP PRESS

Results of sale (all bought in the room):
Crane: £1600
Big Six: £5200
Billiards: £3200

(Buyer's premium 15% plus VAT)

[daveslot]

Typical, pm you even beat me to the results.
I reckon only the Handani will be staying in the UK.
I managed a few bids.