Coin Slot Magazine - #027 - 1977 - April [International Arcade Museum]
CURRENT SCENE'
By Bob Rosenberger
I'm on the horns of a dilemma. The California law legalizing the
possession of slot machines by collectors has caused the market
there to go absolutely haywire. And the shock waves have been
felt throughout the country.
Well, those days are over!
unenlightened
sources
Remember the $300 slot machine?
Unless you are lucky enough to have
of supply,
prices have skyrocketed.
An
ordinary 3-reeler like a Mills Cherry Bell now costs around $450.00
to $600.00 and the more desirable Rol-A-Tops, Treasuries, War
Eagles, etc., cost considerably ,more.
It's like a study of the basic
free enterprise system:
when a large number of buyers compete
for a limited number of items, prices go up. And unless a local
collector is willing to pay California prices, the machines will
invariably wind
up
in
California.
Prior to the passage of the California law, sales of slot machines
were largely done in a sub-rosa fashion by word-of-mouth. Today,
that's no longer the case: wanted ads fairly scream from the pages
of The Antique Trader. The ads aren't small one column-inch-ads
either; they're 1/8 or 1/4 page professionally prepared ads that
give not only machines wanted, but also typical prices paid. The
news media have picked up the story and articles on slot machine
collecting in California have appeared in newspapers and magazines,
and on radio and television around the country. What was once
a small, intimate group of collectors has exploded into a faddish
mania for machines, shades of pinballs and video games!
If I
sound bitter, maybe it's because in some small way,
I
am.
When I first began collecting machines 4 years ago, I was amazed
collectors who
.com constantly groused
m
:
u
m and the
about the "good old days"
se rediculous prices that one
d fro de-mu seemed
now had to pay. ade
That attitude
so negative and non-
a
o
l
c
r
n
a
constructive ow
w. yet I find myself with the same attitude
D then,
w and
w
today.
/
/
:
http
at the
In
number of
addition
to
the
my fellow
machines themselves,
collecting provided me
with the fellowship of a small group of equally devoted collectors
© The International Arcade Museum
http://www.arcade-museum.com/