Gustwi ller was in my
drive to fill up his emp-
ty van. Then another
friend, "B.P." Peirce,
came and bought my
World War Two ma-
chine collection. And
the rest was history,
but not quite.
Sadly, my acqms1-
tion caused other col-
lectors to want a Don-
key Gold Mine "bad",
so "bad" that two got
defrauded by a dirt-bag
from Canada who took
a down payment from one to be sold to the other when
the machine didn't exist. My machine serves as a re-
minder to me that not all luck in this hobby is good.
Another example of the Donkey Gold Mine has since
surfaced and been restored to perfection by John Papa.
I also learned that, some years ago, Steve Grownoski
replicated a few machines that appear on the market
now and then.
So, there you have it, the saga of my Donkey Gold
Mine, finding its way to our home thanks to some
strange twists of fate and to three of my dearest friends,
the "Godfather", "Gus" Gustwiller, and "B.P." Peirce.
Donkey Gold Mine. I
fi nally said "enough is
enough" and decided
two days later to call
Mike and tell him I
was finally accepting
his offer to buy the ma-
chine in an "as is" con-
dition. The sick news I
discovered was that he
had taken those same
few days after the par-
ty to come to the same
conclusion and become
so inspired that he had
solved the mystery and
fixed the machine in all original condition except for an
adjustment to the car. That was the good news. The bad
news was that the price had doubled.
I decided to hold out hope with my "right of first
refusal" that no one would pay what I clearly did not
have. This hope was dashed a month later when I went
to Mike's and got the sad news that a collector had met
Mike's price. I thought about things and asked Mike if
I could have 90 days to exercise my option. Mike said
"ok". Then things really started to speed up. Mike's po-
tential buyer offered me a nice incentive to "go away".
I thanked him, but declined, and two days later "Gus"
St#?lta~
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