After some breaking news yesterday, Dave thought I should tell the whole story so here it is...
I bought the machine on eBay on July 11. Here's the description: RARE Watling Rol a Top Rol-a-Top Five Cent Slot Machine All Original WORKS LOOK. That search with completed or sold listings still picks it up. It popped up just a minute or two before I saw it, I knew the "buy it now" price looked great at $2999, but it also listed the "or best offer". For those of you that aren't familiar with that feature, it allows the seller to review each "offer" or put in a bottom acceptable price, which, if an offer is above, it is automatically and immediately accepted. I was on it so quickly, I thought I would try an offer, then just do the "buy it now" if I didn't hit the automatic accept range. So I put in $2750 and it was in the range and the deal was done. I think it was up less than 5 minutes and sold. Then I had to figure out transport because it was local pickup only.
I paid via PayPal, then contacted the seller, who said he would help or hold the machine as long as I needed. I contacted a guy that hauls machines around the country and he thought he would be passing though there the next day. That fell through, so I waited a couple weeks to see if he would be back through the area. My fallback was one of the specialized transport companies--STI or Beltmann--they charge about $500 and it doesn't matter if it's a slot machine, pinball or jukebox, pretty much $500 for anything that fits on a pallet.
Turns out the guy, Milton Sawyer (a super nice guy) ran a store called "The Treasure Hunter" in Elizabeth City, NC, buying estates and gold and silver, etc. He said a young man inherited this machine and brought it in the store and sold it to him. Milton said it was one of the prettiest items that ever came through the door. A couple weeks after the hauler fell through, I decided to go the expensive route and use Beltmann/STI and get the machine moving my direction. I was communicating with Milton to coordinate pickup and then the communication went silent. After a couple days, I emailed through eBay and I received a reply from Milton's wife, Angel Sawyer. "We were robbed and my husband is no longer with us" along with a link to the story:
https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/ ... -580694763.
Angel agreed to help me coordinate pickup while planning the funeral of her husband, but the communications were erratic. I thought it was understandable given the situation, but I was nervous about getting the machine. STI tried to catch her several times without success. I emailed through eBay and it was agreed for pickup last Tuesday August 14 with delivery to me August 21 and that worked out.
Last night I googled to see if there was any update on the case and this popped up:
https://www.wnct.com/news/local-news/wi ... 1387927424.
Not only was I lucky to find the machine, but pretty lucky to get it, plus it made for quite a story along the way...