Re: WANTED: Small Dealer Tag, 3" x ⅝"
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 9:49 am
Bill,Lucius1958 wrote:I understand the other points of view: my reservation (In Vino Veritas, as I posted it), was that future collectors, in the absence of any documentation of the restoration, might assume that the replacement tag was original, and hence claim a provenance that is incorrect, and perhaps inflating the machine's value based on that.Curt A wrote:Here is something that you can do until you find an original that you like. Find an image of a dealer tag, size it correctly in PhotoShop and print it out on paper like parchment which appears aged. Then laminate the resulting tag, cut it out and attach it. Lamination makes a great celluloid appearance. I did this for missing instruction tags and patent tags on my music box. After showing it to several collectors, they approved and couldn't actually tell the difference.
Now, for you purists who are probably accusing me of blasphemy, would you accept a machine that had a replaced decal printed by Gregg Cline? If so, there is no difference... just making your machine look better cosmetically, does not change its historical value and if it looked shabby in the first place, this is an improvement.
As Peter said, do you really check the provenance of all machines back to the first owner? If so, which I doubt, how do you get reliable info as to whether the machine was changed 10 years from new... still 100 years of age on the changes that would be next to impossible to detect. If you like the machine the way it is, don't do anything... If not, do what makes you happy. Just my $.02 worth...
Bill
The simple answer is this... WE are the "future collectors" of the present time, so don't place any additional value on ANY machine based on it's supposed (unprovable) provenance. Value should be determined on the actual machine, condition and whether or not the buyer likes it enough to pay the asking price... any other method is useless. Unless a machine comes with written authenticated documentation of origin from the original purchase by previous owners to the present, don't rely on a dealers tag or label to determine anything... For example there are many "rare" guns which have had additional engraving added to enhance value or provenance by dubious sellers. Since we are dealing with human beings in any transaction, buyer beware. In the future or even present, there will be Victor VI machines AND cabinets that have been recently made in Peru and assembled from VTLA parts...