Trivoli, IL
This is the one near St. Louis with the worn out playfield that was on Craigslist:
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/ad/20471
Starting bid at $9,000
(Topic ID: 128178)
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Quoted from jodini:WOW! Am I missing something or is that a little pricey!
I'll stick with this one for now....
» YouTube video
If someone has one of the repro playfields laying around that Clay had made for Memaid it would be worth a lot more.........
Just found out there's a more interesting thread that the seller auto posted when he placed his ad: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-gottlieb-mermaid-pinball-machine
Quoted from Aurich:Would it really? I mean, I'm sure it would look lovely, but it's not an original then, is that truly worth $9k at that point?
Yes, the million dollar question is what value do you place on it. And only legitimate buyers wanting it can answer that question.
As far as originality goes, I just bought a Criss Cross woodrail with a very nice cabinet and playfield, and was lucky enough to get a last repro bg from Shay and a set of plastics. So, it won't be original when it's done but nice. I think having a bad backglass and plastics is better than having a bad playfield because they may blend in a little better and still maintain most of the patina and not give it a new/old look as much. But, you also have to just have to take what's given to you sometimes........ If you drop a new playfield in a game that's shot, you've just resurrected another pinball for yourself and others to enjoy.
Just my .02
Quoted from Aurich:I have a repro backglass in my Abra Ca Dabra, with a repainted cabinet. I'm not a stickler for "original". But when you're paying $9k for an EM I think you can get pickier ...
I hear what you're saying. We know the last two decent Mermaids went for more than $14,000 but what is this worth with a bad playfield and no spares available? What other similar Mermaid sale can we compare it to?
Quoted from boilerman:now on ebay also.....
ebay.com link » Gottlieb Mermaid Pinball Machine
$2,617 now on ebay
Quoted from jjpm:If I were him, I'd drop the reserve and take whatever I could get for it. There aren't that many people who collect woodrails and if the title wasn't desirable, that'd be a parts machine.
He started out at $16,000 on Craigslist last year and now he's taking offers starting at $9,000 on Pinside (not sure what his reserve is on ebay) so he's heading in the right direction........
Quoted from CactusJack:Not really. I was watching it in the final 5 minutes. It sat a 4509.09 for that entire time until the final few seconds. Then, I saw it jump one time (apparently to the $5000 mark) and then in the final second or so, it went right to the 9000 mark.
There are snipe services (I use one of them when I know what I want to pay and won't be around to watch live) that will place your bid for you in the last few seconds (usually starts around 15 to 10 seconds mark). Remember a bid won't usually go up unless there is a second entity bidding against it. So, proxy bids can exist and just not appear until someone else counters with a bid higher than the existing bid. If there is a proxy higher than the new bid, it will automatically place a higher bid the amount of the next ebay increment (which was probably pretty high at $5000.).
The odd thing is the bidder history that shows the final two bids being the winner. Well over what I saw happen live. Snipe services use multiple servers to make sure your bid makes it through in the last few seconds.
The 2nd place bidder 7***e placed bids of $4509, $4709, and $5009 in the last few minutes of the auction.
Then, e***n pre-placed a snipe bid to set the bid right at the end to $8100 hoping that's where the reserve was - but he had it set higher for his final bid in case the 1st one didn't work which met the reserve of $9000 - the elapsed time between the $8100 & $9000 bid - 2/15th's of a second - software in use there.
Quoted from jrpinball:Crazy is a relative term. To many people, those of us who collect pinball machines, or cars, or motorcycles, or Lionel trains, or whatever, and spend the money, time and effort to do what we do, we are all crazy!
You got that right jr!
Quoted from cfh:i suspect the buyer has access to another playfield. after all, out of the 12 playfields i sold, that means there are 12 used playfields kicking around. maybe in better shape than this one?
Agree with Clay on the used playfields.
I have a Dimension playfield with average kick-out hole wear but the rest of the playfield is nice (thanks John Dayhuff). To me, I will be happy touching-up the original playfield with acrylic, possibly spot clearing, and carnuba. I have a Ron Webb repro in my Dimension now and to me the game looks original and great. To others, they couldn't live with that kick-out hole wear so they might stick a NOS (from overseas) in there or a repro if one ever gets made. Which means there may be a few decent Mermaid playfields out there - who knows?
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