Low production. Hard to find in any condition. Gottlieb woodrail game with backglass animation.
I don't think there are any others with this feature. Has an aura about it among collectors that probably adds to the value. If you have one, you're the dude, so that's part of it. Is it worth that kind of money? We'll see. Value is what someone is willing to pay for it. I say no one goes 9K, but I could be wrong.

What three games are they? "Mermaid" was made in 1951, so far fewer of them still exist compared to say, "Bristol Hills" which was produced 20 years later, but had a production run of only 110 units. Plus, rarity alone doesn't make a game valuable. There's a lot more to it; granted a big part of it is hype, but there are people who are willing to pay up for something that no one else has, provided it's something that's well known in collector circles and something that is desired by others in that collector circle.

Ok. I thought there might be others, but "Mermaid" is probably the first Gottlieb woodrail with back glass animation. The others are later and already into the metal leg era.

Glad he got what he wanted because of all the abuse he took. Bottom line; something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Apparently, he knew what he had. In my opinion, many pins including many of the newer titles are grossly overpriced. And, it's not like they're rare or anything.
Even "rare" games like "TKO" do nothing for me. If I found one, I'd flip it in a second. It's just the market. Condition sometimes doesn't matter when it comes to something that's very collectible. Look at what some vintage Harley and Indian motorcycles go for, even if it's just a frame or rusted to crap. Same goes for pins. Surprised that many here don't realize that. Bad playfield, yeah, but it's a bleepin' "Mermaid". They don't grow on trees.

Yeah, it's nice. But lots of people have lots of crazy money. There's lots of thing I wouldn't spend on if I had loads of cash, but I'd have popped on that "Mermaid". But then again, I'm a hopeless pinhead!

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!

But those who did know stopped and played a game or two!