This is to introduce myself and my interest to fellow MMDigesters (or is
it MMDigestives  ;).

My name is Bob Klepner and I live in Melbourne Australia.  I was
introduced to MMD by friend and fellow antipodean collector Michael Woolf
of Wellington New Zealand.  I collect coin operated machines of all
types: vending, amusement, music, arcade, scales, etc.

Although I have been interested in coin-op machines since my childhood, 
I have been collecting these for the last 17 years.  My collection of
mechanical music is limited to a Wurlitzer 616 model from the late
thirties.  I am particularly interested in Arcade machines, especially
British and American cast-iron machines.

I also research and restore these machines for myself and others.  My
main concern is with a machine called a Mutoscope, a pre-cinema device
still to be seen in commercial use to this day, a hundred years after its
invention and manufacture.  This is the flip-card machine, or "What the
Butler Saw" type of machine.

I've restored over forty of these machines and for some years have 
been engaged in research for a book dealing with the Mutoscope and the
Mutoscope companies from a historical, social and technical point of
view.  I have amassed a considerable amount of material for the book and
have so far written some articles on this subject, three of which have
been published so far.  At present I'm engaged in compiling a list of
Mutoscope reels remaining in Australia and New Zealand, the contents of
some of which no longer exist in any other form of "film".

Although I have many friends who collect mechanical music primarily, and
our interests occasionally overlap, this has not been my main interest.
When I started to collect there was not much interest in coin-ops as a
collectible, which at that time made them more readily available and
affordable.

I don't know what interest exists amongst other readers of MMD in coin op
machines, but if I can help in any way with the knowledge that I have
accumulated in the past 17 years I would be happy to share this.  So I am
wondering what sort of response this introduction evokes on what is a
wonderful resource.  I'm looking forward to hearing from others who share
my particular passion with whatever their concerns are.

Bob Klepner