Two Stateside auctions

[pennymachines]

I've posted a short report in the News section on two American auctions which took place last weekend: Rich Penn & Dan Morphy auctions.

[john t peterson]

Darn…Wish I'd seen that one coming. Could have used another Bomb Dropper, particularly at that price.

J Peterson
Dropping the ball in the States

[gameswat]

At any auction you can only assume the high bidder on a bargain was willing to pay a lot more!

[bryans fan]

I was surprised it was not flagged up by someone on this site. A really incredible list of machines. I watched some of the lots go through live, on all three days, and was amazed at the speed of the bidding and also the prices fetched. On day three, there were over 700 lots. I started watching around 5 pm (our time) when it started, and it was still only half way through by around 9pm. Most of the gems went for incredible sums of money $80K and $90k in a couple of instances. Endless top quality bandits, mostly fully restored. The English machines with a few exceptions appeared to be the bargains, but as PM says factor in 20% commission, and shipping, plus only seeing a picture and it seemed less attractive. It certainly made me feel like a poor country cousin! I realised it was a different league way above my head!
I shall remain happy to visit our Home grown Auctions, and look at machines in the flesh.
How did John miss these?!!

[pennymachines]

Sorry John. I received an email about the Rich Penn sale, but didn't list it in the Calendar because it only contained a few American games. I used to receive emails from Victorian Casino Antiques (and bought an item in their last sale), but apparently, last August they were bought by Morphy Auctions, who didn't email me. I only learnt of the sale from a collector, who asked me not to broadcast it, because he wished to bid on an item. I would not otherwise have known about it, so I was honour-bound to keep shtum. As BF says, it seemed probable that someone here would flag it - I would have put money on you to have spotted it, John. In the event, neither my collector friend, nor I, managed to bring anything home.

I plan to change the Calendar so that members can put events/sales etc. up themselves.

[john t peterson]

I have no one to blame but myself. I have not been following the trade like I did in day's past and I just missed this opportunity. Gameswat is correct; you can never assume that for another $5, the machine would have been yours. Still, it is heartbreaking to see a splendid machine slip by. As we say here, "Snooze and you lose."

J Peterson
Sleeping less restfully in America

[jingle]

I knew I should of kept that other marksman shooter

[pennymachines]

The hardback colour catalogue for this auction is exceptional in content and quality and was available for $55 including post to the UK. The purchase link seems to have disappeared now, but maybe copies are still available.