Ripplers: repro & real

[wakeupsmellthecoffee]

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

[Indy]

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....

[Guest]

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.

[Indy]

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

[pennymachines]

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.

[pennymachines]

Nice!

[Guest]

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

How rare is rare?

[Guest]

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.

[Guest]

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.

[margamatix]

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

[bryans fan]

Sorry but it looks "brand new " to me, certainly not how you would expect a 70 year old machine to look.
I suspect it is another, rather better finished, repro.

[Scotty]

Good shout, Slot King. If we all knew what things were going to be or not be worth something in the future, we would all be millionaires. This is the fun thing in collecting.

[willborl]

Topic merged - Site Admin.

How do you tell the difference between the original Bryan's Ripplers and the other ones which I am led to believe where built from some original parts by a private collector. Don't know if that is true but that's what I heard.
The reason I ask is because there is Bryans Rippler up on ebay at the moment and I didn't know if it was an original.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/The-Rippler-Penny ... C294%3A200

[bryans fan]

The main differences are, in my opinion, that the repros are in mahogany cases with brass fittings, whereas the originals were in oak cases, with chromed fittings. The originals also have the same moulding as the Payramid round the edge of front. They are also 70 years old!


From the Bryans Museum.

[bryans fan]

The repro Rippler seems to be doing rather well at £510 and 6 days to go.

[willborl]

Thanks for letting me know the difference between the two.
What do they normally go for? £510 seems quite high especially for a repro one

[JC]

Yes, £510 is a lot of money for a repro. I just hope the buyer isn't too disappoimted - the Rippler isn't a brilliant game, certainly not one of Bryans best.

[willborl]

Yeah I agree, never has appealed to me really.
I have been offered a couple in the past and turned them down mostly due to not knowing if they were orginals or not.

[badpenny]

Topic merged - Site Admin.

A Rippler described as a 1930s machine on a black cast stand went on e-Bay today at £250 buy it now. I do hope the new owner who snapped it up toot sweet doesn't end up disappointed.

Doesn't sound too much if it was a replica, assuming you're into replicas. But that wasn't how it was described. The vendor was newly registered.

[coin-op]

It's definitely a repro; but it's cheap by comparison to the repro which sold for £1,400 two or three years back!