Victorian wall hanging circus astrology game machine

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sweetmeats
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Victorian wall hanging circus astrology game machine

Post by sweetmeats »

This was the described title for a lot in today's Victorian, Edwardian and general sale at Bamfords in Derby. It had a guide of £120 to £180 and was described as dating from 1880 (about 20 years older than I would date it). I phoned the auctioneers and asked for a phone bid as sale is over 200 miles away and told as general sale no phone bidding possible. Either leave a bid or bid online with extra 3%. As I had a friend who lives in Derby and could collect the machine (which I was CERTAIN! I was going to own), I left an over the top bid. I thought of £1200 (in my mind I was sure to buy for no more than half this!) Well followed the auction online and hardly anything sold for over £100.Then up comes lot236. The auctioneer says "tremendous interest in this lot which we seem to have got the estimate a little wrong" (oh dear). I have to start at £700. Within about 20 seconds I was outbid, selling to the internet for £1500 with ex's of 28% little change out of £2000. It had no cards in it, but I have about 40 suitable cards, unfortunately not from 1900 but 1920/30 so if the purchaser reads this I would be happy to let him have them. I was not even the under bidder!

As the saying goes better to travel hopefully than to arrive. More shocked than disappointed but clearly they are not all locked up yet! Someone loved it more than me and I congratulate them on owning this machine. The picture below shows the machine. It was described as having enamels but on questioning the auctioneer they were in fact hand written in ink on card behind glass. How much might if have sold for if they were enamels? There are still undiscovered machine out but no matter how obscure the saleroom they always seem to be found.
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badpenny
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Re: Victorian wall hanging circus astrology game machine

Post by badpenny »

Sweetmeats wrote: Wed Oct 18, 2017 6:33 pm There are still undiscovered machine out but no matter how obscure the saleroom they always seem to be found.
You're not wrong .... I guess most of us have experienced this ... and the reason is the same one that allows us to be talking about it now. :tarah:
pennymachines
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Re: Victorian wall hanging circus astrology game machine

Post by pennymachines »

I stumbled across an image of this machine yesterday while researching something else at Bamfords. It just popped up when I searched the site, but said nothing about the sale or sale date, so I assumed it was from the past. I was so impressed I posted an image of it in the Museum. Then I spotted it about an hour later on saleroom.com. So I left a bid this morning in the vain but perpetual hope that everyone else was asleep.
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JC
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Re: Victorian wall hanging circus astrology game machine

Post by JC »

Just wondered......why is it called circus astrology?
ilovemyjukebox
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Re: Victorian wall hanging circus astrology game machine

Post by ilovemyjukebox »

I was very quickly outbid on this too...
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gameswat
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Re: Victorian wall hanging circus astrology game machine

Post by gameswat »

Sweet, this is quite related to my own machine. Shakespeare says...........

I've never found any suitably old enough fortune cards so I'd definitely be interested in what you have? Maybe that would get me excited enough to finish the damn thing too!?
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Re: Victorian wall hanging circus astrology game machine

Post by pennymachines »

Your Character by Astrology re-emerged last week (Feb 11th), at Sworders auctioneers. The hammer went down at £650 this time. I think that's £819 with premium. The auction house keeps 17.5% seller's commission on the £650 hammer price, plus VAT, so that's quite a hit in two years.

Looks like it was within Sweetmeats' budget... ;-) Appears untouched from its previous appearance.
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treefrog
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Re: Victorian wall hanging circus astrology game machine

Post by treefrog »

Trouble is with machines like this, it gets into the very niche collectors world and there are a smaller group willing to pay the high dollars, there just wasn’t two that day. I still think the amount it made was a fair wallop....

I noticed many of the other items did not reach reserve in that auction, especially the over estimated fairground stuff, some of which had come from the Elephant House....perhaps they need to draw people in with sensible figures..
sweetmeats
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Re: Victorian wall hanging circus astrology game machine

Post by sweetmeats »

I did know about this machine being back up for auction. I was also kindly made aware of it by fellow member. When I bid previously I had not seen the machine as was in Derby. This time much closer to home and had three weeks notice so went to view it the day before the auction. First impressions it mas larger than expected and more "rustic". It appeared to be in a condition you would expect to see having spent about 50 years in a cellar or shed. I thought that I had a lucky escape last time, although I was not the under bidder! I actually bid £1200. The options seemed to be leave as it was of risk trying to restore it without changing its simple applied paintwork. Decided to leave a bid and if successful leave it as it was against an estimate of £100/200 I left a bid of £620, opened about £180 and taken to selling price of £640 by the net. I suspect without my commission bid it would have been much lower. The sale "Out of the Ordinary" certainly was: lots ranged from trial of witches in Suffolk 1682, est. £500/800, sold £5000, to a 237cm polar bear (similar to the Simpsons), est. £20,000/30,000, unsold, plus almost anything else you could imagine and many things you could not! Would be worth trying to see a cat as they say "seeing is believing."
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daveslot
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Re: Victorian wall hanging circus astrology game machine

Post by daveslot »

I did leave a mid 500 bid on this, so it wouldn't have been that cheap if you hadn't bid. Funny thing was I left much more on it first time around. !PUZZLED!
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treefrog
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Re: Victorian wall hanging circus astrology game machine

Post by treefrog »

Ha ha ha, well what goes around, comes around. Looks like a dealer bought it and now on eBay for a cool £3000.....

One of the things I know puts off a collector or buyer is items that shift too quickly after sale and appear again and again. Problem with the antiques world, most of the dealers are buying off each other and trying to put their mark up on.... in 12 months we will see it back at auction where they are trying to get their money back, mind you if you are trying to sell a quality item perhaps eBay is the wrong place

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Early-20th-C ... SwEhdeUBdv
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gameswat
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Re: Victorian wall hanging circus astrology game machine

Post by gameswat »

Also being offered on 1st Dibs at 4000 pounds! :o https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/folk- ... lsrc=aw.ds
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john t peterson
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Re: Victorian wall hanging circus astrology game machine

Post by john t peterson »

Excellent example of the old sales technique: If it doesn't sell, boost the price and embellish the description.

Or as the saying attributed to P. T. Barnum goes, "There is a sucker born every minute."

J Peterson
Sucker free this time in the USA
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