I noticed 3 things with older machines that I see people say is patina but I don’t agree with all of them.
1. Neglect called “wear and tear”
I never understood people’s obsession with wear and tear. To me that’s just a reminder that a previous owner didn’t take proper care of it or abused it. Whether it’s from not waxing it regularly, not storing in a controlled climate, or not changing out the ball when needed. But time and time again I read people calling this “Patina” and defending it.
2. Natural aging
Some aspects of it look good like natural aging of colors from UV, the oils from your skin wearing away finishes at the flipper areas over 50+ years, and so on. This is something I actually like.
3. Abuse is “History”
To me abuse on route is not worthy of saying its history. Here’s an example: If you just found a machine from the 60s, let’s say it was mint. You Invite your buddy over to play, mid game you step away grab a drink and come back to see your perfect machine has a giant scratch and dent on the side because his kid wanted to watch his dad play and slid a chair over to the game and slammed it into the cab. You’d be pissed....but magically if that happened before you got the game it’s now a “battle scar of history” that is sought after.
Ok now that I opened it up, what would you describe as patina?
Is it as precious as we make it out to be?
Also I’d like to see some pics of machines with true patina that make me feel bad for restoring my old games to look like new!
