Appraisal Needed

I’m looking for someone who can do an appraisal of the value of a number of arcade games I have for my insurance company.

I had a flood, and several are ruined.

The adjuster has decided all of my arcade games are worth about $400 each, since that is what they sell for new at WalMart.

While some, like my Burger Time, might be that cheap these days. I know a fully functional, original PacMan, for example, is worth more then that.

A Williams Joust, Galaga, Burger Time, Missle Command, PacMan, Gorf and a conversion Top Ginner are the victim in this case.

Thankfully, the pinball machines have metal legs – LOL

Jean-Claude DuBois
469-337-2357 (Text preferred as I get so many robocalls, I often don’t answer the phone anymore)

Sorry for your loss. I have no further advice, but that’s a fun set of games :frowning:

Contact Fun Billiards & Gameroom Superstore in Mesquite. The manager Craig Hassell is knowledgeable in pinball and arcade pricing and probably could give you the needed appraisal.

Several of my friends who have given appraisals in the past are currently headed to Chicago for the big pinball show later this week and won’t be back until sometime next week.

Here is the link to Fun Billiards & Gameroom Superstore

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Sorry to hear about the loss of the games but atleast your will hopefully get something from insurance. Even if they are water damaged the parts and wiring harnesses can be removed and transplanted into a donor cabinet or a reproduction cabinet. Glad the pinball machines did not get ruined. As long as there is less than 20 inches of water generally pinball machines are fine and only suffer a little rust on the legs. Arcades soak it up and are easily ruined in an inch or two of water.

I need to look into getting additional insurance on my games. Fire, theft or tornado damage is the biggest risk to my collection. I have been collecting for over a decade and have around 100 pinball machines and 20 or so other arcade games. Probably about $250k+ in games at current market prices. Everything from the 1930’s through 1990’s.

Suggest you talk to a specialized Auctioneer that deals with this sort of stuff.

Sargent Auction

This is a North Texas based full-service auction company, family owned and operated, specializing in the sale of collections, antiques, estates, and business assets.

Jim Sargent, licensed auctioneer, has over 20 years of auctioning experience and is a graduate of the Texas Auction Academy. He is a member of the National Auctioneers Association and the Texas Auctioneers Association. Jim is a firm believer in the auction method of marketing and selling, and will gladly discuss how these methods are beneficial when you need to liquidate your assets.

I have been to several of his auctions.

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Careful. If they are ‘collectibles’ they are often limited to a specified dollar value in most insurance policies. For flood insurance, that limit is usually $2500.

In my case, my wife’s Harry Potter collectibles maxed that out long before we got to my game collection.

Insurance is trying to say my original PacMan will be $400 to replace since that is what WalMart is currently selling a modern arcade game version for. Yet, the WalMart version, with it’s added base, only stands 4 foot tall, and I’m sure is a LCD screen.

The arcade games that have the PCB at the bottom, as most do, are obviously ruined.

The good news is that the CRT’s may still be good in some cases, and the top glass have still be good. The display insert around the monitor in PacMan flaked away from the moisture as the pressed wood dried out.

I’ve avoid going near any of them as I spent so many hours on each and to see them damaged in such a way is such a heart brake.

Indeed.
Useless to you, but a warning for others, possibly, to get collection-specific insurance with documented values. (I hear MOST of us would do well to do this with anything we value, including the contents of our home, which is very difficult to judge AFTER an event such as a flood or fire forces us to claim everything we own). But at the end of the day, you’re still trying to replace a labor of love with money and, while “more” or “proper” amounts of money makes it easyER, it’s still not easy…

Cameras, computers, guns, art, furs, collectibles - all usually have limits and you need to get a Rider on the policy at extra cost. I have a Rider for my cameras.

///THIS\
The challenge is finding an insurance company that can/will write an appropriate policy for artwork or collectibles.

For that matter, it’s equally difficult to get policies written to cover same for purposes of shipping. You can buy a lot of insurance over the counter at the post office, ups or fedex, but if you have to file a claim, they won’t pay more than $500.

Written appraisals for insurance value are important to have to prove value, both for obtaining insurance and for claims.

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