C.O.C.A. Times
Issue: 2003-March - Vol 1 Num 1 - Page 27
How to Bid on Ebay and Win When You Lose
by Bill Butterfield
It's always exciting for me when I hear about any partic-
ularly scarce piece of Wurlitzer jukebox equipment turn-
ing up. Since my earliest days of collecting I've been
aware that some of the more exotic wall speakers and
remote control items are much harder to find than even
the best Wurlitzer jukeboxes such as the 850 and 950.
Here's a story about why it may pay you to bid on eBay
even if you don't think you have a chance of winning the
item you are bidding on.
in touch with DK to see where he was located. Low and
behold, DK was in Virginia just like TL, about two hours
away from TL's home. So TL scooted right over there
and bought the model 580 speaker, the wallboxes, a lot
of parts and stuff from the garage as well as a Wurlitzer
1900 and AMI 1-200. He even got a butterscotch Catalin
Fada radio for free that was on the pile for the dump ("no
one bought it at the garage sale, so go ahead and take
it").
In October of 2001 I got an email message from a good
friend of mine in Virginia (I'll call him "TL"). TL had
just gotten an email from someone he didn't know (I'll
call this man "DK"). DK's father, who died about 1975,
had been a small jukebox operator in the 1940's and
l 950's. DK's mother had just passed away in September
2001, so he and his two sisters had come home to clear
up an estate "garage sale" and got rid of some junk.
DK's sisters said he could have the old jukebox stuff and
they would take the remaining household furnishings.
True to his word, TL honored his prior arrangement with
me and sold me the 580 speaker at the agreed on price,
even though we both knew it was worth more. I also
bought the 8 model wallboxes (7 had metal covers, and
one had a Catalin cover).
When DK found the wallboxes they were wrapped in
1947 newspapers. The plastics for the speaker had
shrunk and curled up into little clumps so DK had
thrown them away. Original plastics for the 580 almost
always did that, so it was not unusual. Also found with
the speaker in the attic was a small shipping carton from
the Wurlitzer factory with the remains of a broken cen-
ter "tulip" glass for the 580 in it. The clue that the wall-
boxes and wallspeaker all had the same title strips in
them means they came from the same location. From
information garnered from DK's story, it seems that his
father had "inherited" the wallboxes and speaker from a
location he had taken over in the 1940's. DK's father
probably ordered a new replacement glass for the front
of the speaker from Wurlitzer. When it arrived broken,
he got discouraged and put the speaker and wallboxes in
the attic of his house, sometime in 1947, where they sat
for 54 years until his wife died.
Most of the jukeboxes and parts were in the garage.
There was an attic in the house though, and DK found 8
old wallboxes and a big wooden cabinet in the attic. He
found ID tags on them and decided to do some checking
to see what he had. The wallboxes were model 125, and
the big cabinet was a model 580 wall speaker. He had
almost thrown the wall speaker away, since there was no
good plastic or glass in it at all - just the wooden cabinet
and the mechanical works inside.
This is where eBay comes in. DK knew about eBay - he
went to the website and did a search for Wurlitzer wall-
boxes. It just so happened that there was a similar wall-
box being offered on eBay at that time (it was a Catalin
model 120 wallbox that had been bought at the June
2001 Christie's auction in Beverly Hills, which I attend-
ed). DK decided to email each of the people bidding on
this wallbox and see if they wanted to buy the stuff he
had found in his mom's attic. My friend TL was one of
these bidders. So was another friend of mine from
Germany - a prominent Wurlitzer collector - "RA". RA
had gotten very excited about the possibility of buying a
model 580 speaker. Germany is a long way from the east
coast of America though, and got a little leery. He want-
ed to make sure it was an original speaker and not one of
the look-alikes made in the past 20 years. He emailed
DK for more information.'
So it just goes to show, bidding on eBay can be very
good for some people, even if they don't win what they
were bidding on.
TL on the other hand emailed me right away to see what
I would offer. I gave him a reasonable number, so TL got
27
by Bill Butterfield
It's always exciting for me when I hear about any partic-
ularly scarce piece of Wurlitzer jukebox equipment turn-
ing up. Since my earliest days of collecting I've been
aware that some of the more exotic wall speakers and
remote control items are much harder to find than even
the best Wurlitzer jukeboxes such as the 850 and 950.
Here's a story about why it may pay you to bid on eBay
even if you don't think you have a chance of winning the
item you are bidding on.
in touch with DK to see where he was located. Low and
behold, DK was in Virginia just like TL, about two hours
away from TL's home. So TL scooted right over there
and bought the model 580 speaker, the wallboxes, a lot
of parts and stuff from the garage as well as a Wurlitzer
1900 and AMI 1-200. He even got a butterscotch Catalin
Fada radio for free that was on the pile for the dump ("no
one bought it at the garage sale, so go ahead and take
it").
In October of 2001 I got an email message from a good
friend of mine in Virginia (I'll call him "TL"). TL had
just gotten an email from someone he didn't know (I'll
call this man "DK"). DK's father, who died about 1975,
had been a small jukebox operator in the 1940's and
l 950's. DK's mother had just passed away in September
2001, so he and his two sisters had come home to clear
up an estate "garage sale" and got rid of some junk.
DK's sisters said he could have the old jukebox stuff and
they would take the remaining household furnishings.
True to his word, TL honored his prior arrangement with
me and sold me the 580 speaker at the agreed on price,
even though we both knew it was worth more. I also
bought the 8 model wallboxes (7 had metal covers, and
one had a Catalin cover).
When DK found the wallboxes they were wrapped in
1947 newspapers. The plastics for the speaker had
shrunk and curled up into little clumps so DK had
thrown them away. Original plastics for the 580 almost
always did that, so it was not unusual. Also found with
the speaker in the attic was a small shipping carton from
the Wurlitzer factory with the remains of a broken cen-
ter "tulip" glass for the 580 in it. The clue that the wall-
boxes and wallspeaker all had the same title strips in
them means they came from the same location. From
information garnered from DK's story, it seems that his
father had "inherited" the wallboxes and speaker from a
location he had taken over in the 1940's. DK's father
probably ordered a new replacement glass for the front
of the speaker from Wurlitzer. When it arrived broken,
he got discouraged and put the speaker and wallboxes in
the attic of his house, sometime in 1947, where they sat
for 54 years until his wife died.
Most of the jukeboxes and parts were in the garage.
There was an attic in the house though, and DK found 8
old wallboxes and a big wooden cabinet in the attic. He
found ID tags on them and decided to do some checking
to see what he had. The wallboxes were model 125, and
the big cabinet was a model 580 wall speaker. He had
almost thrown the wall speaker away, since there was no
good plastic or glass in it at all - just the wooden cabinet
and the mechanical works inside.
This is where eBay comes in. DK knew about eBay - he
went to the website and did a search for Wurlitzer wall-
boxes. It just so happened that there was a similar wall-
box being offered on eBay at that time (it was a Catalin
model 120 wallbox that had been bought at the June
2001 Christie's auction in Beverly Hills, which I attend-
ed). DK decided to email each of the people bidding on
this wallbox and see if they wanted to buy the stuff he
had found in his mom's attic. My friend TL was one of
these bidders. So was another friend of mine from
Germany - a prominent Wurlitzer collector - "RA". RA
had gotten very excited about the possibility of buying a
model 580 speaker. Germany is a long way from the east
coast of America though, and got a little leery. He want-
ed to make sure it was an original speaker and not one of
the look-alikes made in the past 20 years. He emailed
DK for more information.'
So it just goes to show, bidding on eBay can be very
good for some people, even if they don't win what they
were bidding on.
TL on the other hand emailed me right away to see what
I would offer. I gave him a reasonable number, so TL got
27
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).