What’s the Value? Stern Tutankham – East St. Louis, IL

In today’s edition of determination a price for selling your arcade game, we have a Stern Tutankham that recently sold on eBay just east of St. Louis, MO.

Stern Tutankahm – Decent final auction price

Tutankham is one of those classic games that has a small, but dedicated following of collectors who love the game.

The game doesn’t come up for sale all that often, and certainly not in working condition. From what I can tell, there have been well less than a dozen machines that have been sold through eBay in the last 10 years so it can be a little bit more difficult than your average game to find an up to date comp from the last 3-6 months.

Final Bid Price for the Tutankahm: $1,075

In my opinion – while this is a decent price for this game, there are times where a nice, working Tutankham has sold for more than this price in the last two years. While that is a longer timeframe for a comp, the relative scarity means that a longer period for comps could be considered relevant.

Let’s take a look at the condition to understand some of the common issues to look out for when valuing this game.

Photos of the Tutankham condition

Here are a couple of common areas to keep an eye out when valuing this Stern game. Some of these areas are condition are common across all arcade games, and a couple are specific to this game.

The Marquee

There are a couple of Stern games where the marquees aren’t just flat pieces of acrylic but rather have a bend or in the case with Tutankham, have a hard right angle at the top. This marquee does not have a top metal bracket that keeps the artwork attached to the cab, rather screws are driven right through bent plastic at the top.

Check for cracking, chips and other damage to the acrylic. The marquee is a common place to have breakages. A buyer can’t see those details from the photo included with the auction, but something to ask about. Reproductions for this piece of artwork are not available.

The Control Panel

The control panel artwork is also reverse printed acrylic. Any flat acrylic around the controls are susceptible to cigarette burns. You can see this piece has at least one burn on the upper right, but isn’t in horrible condition. Cigarette burns can be much more pervasive.

Tutankham control panel artwork is also not available as an authentic reproduction. Cigarette burns can be sanded out and repolished, but it takes a fair amount of work and time.

The Sideart

The sideart on this Tutankham cabinet is in excellent condition.

One detail to keep an eye out for in the photos is that the artwork appears to be mounted in different locations. It could be how the photos are taken, but one side appears to be mounted higher than the other. For that reason buyers should ask whether or not the artwork is original, and if its not – whether its screenprinted or a (low grade) digital print.

Other Notes on the Cabinet

There is a lot to like in the other photos, including the fact that this Tutankham is working and playable.

There are some small cosmetic things that are easily fixed, like removing rust and polishing rusty bolts on the control panel and coin door. There are some chunks missing out of the bottom edges of the cabinet. Done right, that would mean masking off the sideart and repainting the entire cabinet, which is a bit more work.

Closing Note – Valuing Games

If you have a Tutankham or another arcade game in the St. Louis area that you are looking to get an up to date appraisal (working or not), please don’t hesitate to contact me.

I monitor values of games across a number of different sources beyond eBay and I provide free estimates on game values, all you need to do is send along photos and a description of the condition of your game.

Here are some similar arcade posts

• What’s it worth? Williams Defender sold in Georgia
• What’s it worth? Atari Asteroids Deluxe – Grand Island, Nebraska
• What’s it worth? Sega Zaxxon sold in Cincinnati, OH
• What’s it worth? Nintendo Popeye – Key West, Florida
• What’s it worth? Working Omega Race

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