C.O.C.A. Times

TALES OF THE HUNT
Hosted by Jack Freund
close, too close. He was looking at the machine as
intently as I was. Like a Bar scene at closing time
when they say "Last Call", this was closing time
for me. If I didn't close the sale then and there, I
would be kicking myself big time when I saw Mr.
Glassy-Eye hauling the striking clock to his car. I
peeled off a number of crisp hundred dollar bills.
And we concluded the deal.
I casually mentioned that I was interested in
almost any unusual penny arcade machine or
automaton. His eyes lit up, and in a conspiratorial
whisper said he had something that might interest
me, but wasn't
sure he wanted to
sell it. (He always
says that). Well, he
opened up the
back of his car and
as he was clearing
all his blankets and
cartons which hid
the treasure, he
pointed to this
crusty old wooden
box and asked me
if I was familiar
with a "Page Turner?" I confessed I didn't know
what a Page Turner was, but when he pried open
what looked like a 100 year old wood box I
thought "whoa". In about one nanosecond, I con-
cluded that (a) you don 't see things like this often
(b) automatons are not coin-op but are cool in their
own way (c) I didn't have much time to get edu-
cated and (d) I had a decision to make ...... quick-
ly.
Again, he would not budge on price. I suspect
if I had caught him at the end of the day I might
have gotten a better deal, but if I waited, I am sure
I would have lost out. And as they say, timing is
everything. Patience is not exactly a virtue in the
passionate collector. Five minutes later we had a
deal. With a handshake we settled on the price and
Sandy Lechtick, from Southern California, sub-
mitted this "Tale". He Pretty much explains why so
many of us make the twice yearly ..... .
"PILGRIMAGE TO
CHICAGO LAND"
The day before the November 2003
Chicagoland Show, I spent the morning, as I usual-
ly do, at Kane County Fairgrounds. Nothing
knocked my socks off. It's always a little depress-
ing when you have a pocket full of dough burning
a hole in your trousers and absolutely nothing to
spend it on.
Then, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a lot
of commotion around one car where some guy was
setting up. In fact, there is always commotion
when this guy sets up. The scene was like the day
after Christmas sale at Nordstrom. Talk about
crazed coin-op collectors, these guys looked like
they hadn't eaten in years-
and I was one of them.
Anyway, it looked like this
guy had some neat stuff
including one cool looking
machine with a bell. As soon
as I got closer I got more
excited. It was a Striking
Clock floor model strength
tester in pristine restored
condition. OK, it's not nec-
essarily the rarest machine,
but I like machines with a
distinctive look, even if they
don't have Caille or Mills
stamped on it.
The seller would not negotiate - not even one
cent. He knew what he had. He knew what he
wanted and knew he would get it. And I knew he
knew. Another guy - who had that glassy-eyed
look unique to coin-op collectors, was hovering
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