There are some very important issues that need to be addressed, about some Lot numbers, in the VCA auction.
The Bogus trade stimulators to be aware of on Fri., are lot #185 - a Buckley "Puritan Baby Vendor", with the wrong
Groetchen "Ball Gum" top casting , that is FAKE for this machine, and doesn't fit correctly. Lot #186 - Buckley "Horses",
painted incorrectly, and on a non-orig. wood base. Lot #187 & #190 are both Repros. Lot #191 - Daval "Cent-A-Smoke",
with a recast jackpot, that NEVER came on this model. Lot #192 - Superior "Cigarette", with home-made FAKE Beer
strips & card, which was never produced this way. And we all know on this Forum, who has put this CRAP together!
Now for the Biggest upset on Sat. Besides several of the Victorian Uprights having issues with incorrect castings, wheels,
glass, and just plain 'Not Working', it seems that VCA took it upon themselves to SWITCH two of the Caille doubles. For
what stupid reason, I can only guess ONE. To attract two buyers toward a nickel-quarter combination. There are three
Caille "Centaur" doubles. The 25c - 50c example is OK. But, BOTH of the Caille "Centaur" 5c - 25c doubles have been
magically switched. The one with the broken head section, used to be 5c - 5c, and the other Was 25c - 25c. I have the
serials for these machines, listed according to what they originally were. Now that they have switched them, throws
the history listings off, which they could care less about. What they don't realize, is by doing this, they have destroyed
the Rarity of the two machines, and would have brought more from the seasoned bidders. There are NOT that many
'nickel - nickel' & 'quarter - quarter' doubles of any model, as opposed to multiple coin models. They should have been
told to put them back the way they were, but it's their loss. I can only hope that the same buyer wins them both, so
that they can be returned to their original state. What possesses VCA to do such stupid moves? Simple - They don't know
any better. I am sure glad to see that Morphy has taken over. They have always been more professional in the way that
they conduct their auctions. Even the late Bob Levy, (rest his soul), would not have condoned the switching of the Caille's,
as he was working closely with Morphy, at the time of his passing. He liked machines as original as possible, and did not
care for Repro's, and even restored, and had talked to me several times about some of the Junk in the VCA auctions.
Hopefully some of our Forum members that are there, will spread the word, about the wrong-doings.