Missed this Ideal 55 COKE EMBOSSED Cooler...

[SIGNGUY]

 
Ok, heres the story, i get a call from a guy in the Minneapolis area telling me he has a coke machine for sale,(typical call I get). I start to ask him details about it and quickly learn it's a slider, and of course ask about the coke lettering, he says it's raised, I then ask (calmly) if the words in bottles is also raised underneath the logo, he says yes!.  SO I (calmly) ask again so what are you looking to get for the cooler... Typical answer comes back saying I am not sure what these are worth, followed by a long story of where he found it ..blah blah blah....  OK ,by this time, i'm thinking I want to buy it but of course think I might be able to get a deal on it so I told him what my other sliders where selling for and made him an offer.
The guy says he'll think about it and wants to do some reasearch.
And don't get me wrong, I love this site, but he finds this site and finds another discussion about that FAKE embossed slider that I brouht up a few weeks earlier, and I think Glen chimed in and a few others about value of a real one that sold for 1000 or 2000 restored. and of course quickly puts together that I was in on that conversation.
so he emails me back telling me that I'm trying to "Fraud" him and "Steal" his machine from him with my low offer... Of course I'm P(&&$ed off by now and say, you didn't have a price in mind when you called me I gave you an offer and we where to take it from there... I tried to explain to him that I can't be a seller and a buyer in one transaction, and that of course I'm going to try to get a deal on anything I buy, who wouldn't...
we'll I see this deal going south and so I make him another Fair offer, I was not going to offer $1000 but thought my offer was fair....
a week goes by and he says he thought about it and sold it to someone else... Oh well, I ask what he got for it and of course he's too proud and won't tell me , I was just curious as I wanted to know??  SO needless to say, I missed out on it? maybe I played it wrong?, maybe I should have just offered more up front? but it sure would have been fun to get it for less?
any thoughts, advice or just tell me I'm stupid for "playing the game". oh well.. I hope that someone got it and enjoys this Rare Gem!, and I know it's in Minneapolis so maybe it will come up for sale again?...
here's a picture. (It's the real deal and it was complete with coin mech and rack, mech not shown in photo). 

[collecture]

You win some and you lose some! You've gotten some great deals too playing that hand.

[GreginNM]

That is one of the drawbacks of the proliferation of the internet for us collectors!  It used to be that if someone had some old thing (not just soda machines) that they wanted to sell, they either got a rough price from some antique dealer, or else just did the offer/counteroffer thing and everyone was happy.  Now folks are more proned to jump on the internet, find any website that has something that looks like what they have, and immediately assume that theirs is worth just as much as the one they saw.  Of course, they don't usually take into account condition, location, or the fact that they might have referenced someone's website that was asking $10,000 for something that will never, ever sell at that price!  Bottom line is, someone's "treasure" is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it at that time.  If a person is willing to work hard at it, they might find a buyer that will give them the moon for their item.  You just lucked into someone who had enough extra time on their hands to do some research and enough greed in their system to expect a better offer.  Who knows, maybe you will see it again!  My two cents...

[davethebirdman]

I'm with Tom...

Unless you really really want it and its a keeper you have to look at your profit line..
After all its a business for you...

People like me will snap up what we can find hold onto it until its lost its glow and then hope to re-coup what we paid... Maybe make a little on the side if poss... Perhaps we'd have paid more...

I wouldn't worry mate, something nice is just around the corner...

Dave 

[GreginNM]

Here's one in San Diego on Craigslist.  I have no idea if it's embossed or not.  The pictures aren't very good!

Ideal Slider

[MoonDawg]

     He saw my post about selling one unrestored for $2000, and e-mailed me
about how much his was worth saying he was not selling, just pricing it.
     A few e-mails later he said that....OK he lied and he really was selling it
and asked just how much $$$ I would offer him for it.

     Below is my reply:

      Ok I lied too! I didn't sell mine for $2000.00, I traded it for a fully restored Ideal 55 Coke generic slider which I then sold for $2500.00
         You see my customers off the street could care less if the Coke letters are embossed or decals, their wives just won't let them bring it in the house unless it looks pretty, (meaning restored in slider terms)
        So I buy complete Ideal sliders for $300.00, paint them red, add a Coca Cola decal and get $2500.00. (7up or RC embossed machines get the letters cut out and either embossed Coca Cola letters or flat metal is welded back in)  Although yours  is nice, financially I have no reason to pursue the original embossed version at $2000.00 or even $1000.00.
          You will need to find yourself a collector who needs  your machine more than I do. You see, considering shipping cost,it would be a losing proposition for me by the time it reached California.
 
                                                        Sorry, and good luck
                                                                                       Glen

[SIGNGUY]

Ha,
Small world isn't it...

Here is the really FUNNY part about this... after hearing you say that he "LIED" ..

He is a PASTOR!  Holy man, Man of the cloth!!!

I found that out one time when I called him and he answered, "Hello, this is Pastor _______"

Oh well, win some lose some...

[Larry]

Did you say Pastor or bastard? 

[collecture]

Did you say Pastor or bastard? 

He said his name was Pastor Bastard

[coke_and_stuff]

He emailed me as well, asking me to make an offer. with shipping costs to MN to AR I never made the offer telling him it was going to be to costly to ship. Oh well they are out there. One sold 4 hrs North of me a year or so ago for just over $300-350ish.

Joey