VintageCollectibles wrote:Whenever I see a machine like this I think of a song that Johnny Cash sang. He sang about a guy that worked in a factory that made Cadillac cars. Each day he would take home one piece of a Cadillac and after about 20 years or so he had enough parts to make a Cadillac. All the parts were original Cadillac parts but from many different years or models. In the end he did have a Cadillac car with all original parts but it was not a car that Cadillac made. It was a car that he made.
That's a great story but it doesn't apply to my machine. Just look at the historical evidence, we know that these machines were destroyed in the 1930s as being evil products from morally corrupt businessmen. Since I know that my particular machine sat in the same house since it was built in the same time period, so I'm relatively sure of the time period it was combined and maybe restored. The restoration itself, if indeed that's what was done, is antique. This history is a much different characterization than what many of you here have made.
The basic economic truth is that the value of anything sold in the marketplace is determined by buyers. I've been honest and as precise as I can be to describe my slot machine. Anyone with a stack of Ben Franklin's will be saavy enough to determine for their self what the value of my machine is. I understand from what you've written that I may be aiming high with the price I've set based on current market conditions as you see in your businesses. I also understand from other postings on your site that many of the slots being sold as antique today are nothing of the sort because they've been worked on over the past 20-30-40 years. The disreputable dealer makes is difficult for the honest ones to do an honest business. I get that. What I'm selling, however, is unique for exactly the reasons I've detailed in my listing, and I'll stand by that and let the marketplace decide what it's really worth.
Don't be a hater. I wouldn't do that to your business or the items you sell there.
—VintColl
The point I'm trying to make is the fact that Mills did not combine the parts from 2 or 3 different machines to make that one. Someone other than Mills put that machine together whether it was 80 years ago or 8 years ago, it is still not a machine that Mills made. You are right, the value of the machine is only what someone is willing to pay for it. I myself consider old slot machines as more of a vintage collectable than a antique. JMHO