old slots can anyone tell me what the value is

[kenokarz]

i have a Friend who husband passed away , and wants to know the value
on these units can you tell me what valve you would place on these, 25 cent machine is a reproduction, cash register goes up to a 1.00 any help you can give us would help
thanks Dave

[kenokarz]

more pics

[kenokarz]

more pics

[FORDSBS]

No idea but have to say that is a nice collection.

[ROCKET]

 

It is my opinion only .. look at my profile pictures of the REAL ONE ARM BANDITS ..

the  reproductions i  have seen .. are>>>just aok <<<--I am not running out to buy one for sure .

the opinion is based on many factors --but mainly the economic mess we are all in at the current time ..

the reproduction slots  ARE NOT CHEAP TO BUY . !!  

I could not >>IN ALL FAIRNESS<<< PUT A PRICE ON THESE ITEMS ..

I WOULD  GOOGLE THE HELL OUT OF THE PRODUCTS & FIND A GOING FIGURE YOU CAN BASE WHAT THE SELLING WORTH IS ??


your going to find sorry to say !! that if the original owner who passed away >Hypothetically --paid lets say 1500.00 for the GOLDEN NUGGET SLOT
THATS A REPRO .

that common sense --dictates it's not going to sell more than a BRAND NEW REPRO !!

with the holiday season here !! its not a great time for a seller to get top buck .. a group package is how I would market the items for the woman .

if she needs money ??? they are once again in the bad economy mode -----of year ---plus findng a @ss to put in the seat to buy them ..

what  I have that only a few picts are on my profile of them .. that are all real ones ..

 a few came up in discussion for sale in october --between mysef and a fellow collector .

 I have had this estate collection of one arm bandits  going on past 20 yrs  now .. some at this time I can make a buck ..
 
some of the others If sold seperate I would lose money at close to 50% of what they were appraised at 10 years ago ..

antique auto's run the same -- DEMAND OF THE ITEM !!  antique cars  certain year corvettes --would bring 80k---120k  ten years ago
now bring 40k if your lucky --of course all depends on documentation --condition --& product demand at time of sale.

hope this helps

Rocket  

[kenokarz]

i guess she needed to know  a value for the lot if someone wanted to buy just a ball park
the only machine thats a repo is the mills golden nugget
thanks

[knagl]

Dave-

Did you e-mail you-know-who here in my neck of the woods?  These machines seem like they'd be right up his alley.

[kenokarz]

yes already talked to him thanks

[uniman]

I think there are at least two repro's in that lot. The Mill's Black Cherry, just above the Golden Nugget, pays for one cherry.
No expert here, but I believe an original only pays for two or more.

[Amachanic]

I don't think the Mills Black Cherry is a repo. This one is a dime machine, the repo's were quarter machines like the Golden Nugget pictured. I have a Mills Diamond front from the 40's and it pay 2 coins for a single cherry.. The best way to spot a repo is from the size of the coin trays on the front, and from the inside levers. The pic of the coin tray is from a original machine. I'll post a different pic of one on a repo slot

[Amachanic]

This is a pic of a coin tray from a Mills reproduction...

[StatFreak]

Amachanic, is there any chance that you could post larger pictures in the 3000x2000 size range? Those don't show any detail.  Just a thought.

[Amachanic]

Sorry StatFreak no can do, wish I could make them bigger. These pics are some that i found and saved to my computer. I know that the pic of the mechanism shows only 1 lever for the reproductions, where the original Mills have 2 levers. The coin trays go all the way across the front bottom of the reproductions and the originals were smaller and only in the center of the machines. The other thing is that the reproductions were all done in quarter if I'm not mistaken...

[gordy]

My guess, top to bottom : $800, 800, 800, 900, 500, 100.  Mills made one  and two cherry pay. Repros often sell for more than originals because they look better. Currently,  there are a lot more sellers than buyers. Gordy

[slotsteve]

I,ll say  G / N  for sure is a repo and maybe the 4 jacks is a repo from 60,s

[slotparts]

Gordy that would be my guess at this time and could go lower if in a state that has less money to play lol

[kenokarz]

thanks guys that a least gives her a ball park to start at, anything helps at this point in her life

[Montis Slots]

Another thing you can do, but it may be time consuming, is to keep an eye on Ebay for the machines shown and see what they end up going for.
This will kinda give you a current market value.
You do have some nice machines there, especially the original machines, and even though times and money are tough right now, someone who really appreciates the old mechanical slot machines would probably make you a reasonable offer.
Good Luck,
Caio,
Monti

[IFFV68]

The 10 cent is a Mills Black Cherry about 1949, It looks a original, The award card is the real deal. As far as price it depends where you live. I would say around $1800.00, You might get more or less. I have a $.25, just like it. IF the serial # is more than 480,000,  which it should be, it was made after W.W.II.

The poinsettia Goose Neck, Mills Novelty, Chicago Il., was made around the late or middle 1920's It also looks original. those are pretty nice machines when re-furbished.  I don't know the value of that.

The Golden Nugget repro's are around $1000.00, give or take new. I don't know if the reels are case hardened. The original reels can take a beating & their isn't much wear. I have a Blue Castle Front, dated 12/226/35. the reels show very little wear.

Those machines will be working 70 years from know. I don't know how long our newer ones will?

I hope this helps, I not an expert, this doesn't represent Union or Management.

[IFFV68]

The Mills Reproduction machines don't have the mills mold #'s on them.

Also I don't believe they have a working Jackpot. I had a 1950's dime wit a non-working jackpot. Mills made some of them but they still had mold #'s on them!!

 You are right, the repro's are all quarter machines & used to be made in Arvada Colorado by Bill Harris. His company was named ROYAL BELL.  At one time he bought out all the original parts from Mills  grandson, I believe his name was Tony Mills. I met him a long time ago in Las Vegas at a slot store on Industrial Blvd. Can't remember the name.
Bill Harris also use to built statues of Miners, Donkeys holding the Mills Slot Machines. The Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas had some at one time.
The repro's are nice looking but resale value  should not be as high as the Originals. They still work very well, in some cases better.
As far as the pay outs go, one of my machines pays two coins on one cherry, 5 on two cherrys. The other machine pas 3 coins on two cherry's, 5 coins on two cherry's, one lemon or one BELL-FRUIT-GUM., which is the Jackpot, twenty coins & the Jack pot window drops the coins.

The repro's also came in WAR EAGLE, GOLDEN NUGGET, & I believe BURSTING CHERRY. The Reproductions are very easy to determine when looking inside. Look for the #'s. Also the originals have  Serial #'s on the cabinet, & on the Machine. Some original machine have newer cabinets because they are in humid states & rot. Casting #'s are the key thing to look for.
. Some machines had ser.# on the castings on top. One of mine has the same Sre# about everywhere & the BELL FAMILY sticker on the bottom  inside the mech.

I hope this will help.

[Montis Slots]

To further clarify the reproduction issue.
In the late 70's and early 80's a person could buy unpainted reproduction castings of the Mills machines mentioned and even castings of some Watlings, the Treasury and Roll-a-Top, and also available was the wood cabinetry unstained, Etc. in kits so the person who had picked up mechs for the machines separately, as machines and mechs at that time were pretty easy to come by around Nevada due to casinos getting rid of spare parts from their slot shops, could actually build his own machine and in any denomination if he had the escalator, coin tube and payout slides, Etc. for the denomination he wanted to build.
To an experienced slot mechanic, they were readily noticed as repro's but they looked so good that unknowing people bought them and unfortunately they sometimes paid what an original restored machine was bringing in at that time. Repros do not maintain value as all original machines do.
I personally knew of ex slot mechanics from the casinos that had numerous parts for these machines that they had picked up from the casinos when the mechanical machines were replaced by the early Bally electro-mechanical machines and it was quite easy to build up their own machines of any denomination.
To the experienced restorer and collector these machines are quite readily recoqnized but to most they can sometimes slip by.
So as the old saying says, "buyer beware" and thoroughly check out the machines that you purchase.
The reason that the repros seem to play better is because they are missing a lot of the parts that were originally on the mechs to prevent cheating and used as safe guards for proper play.
Hope this helps,
Ciao,
Monti

[Youngjedi]

A common way to spot a repro...Well there are several.   The first thing I look at is how the casting matches up with the cabinet.  The repro castings were made by taking an existing casting,  and making a mold.  It's a one to one fit with the casting and new mold.  The Problem is when you go to pour a new casting from the mold.  Aluminum will shrink up to 7%.  because of this,  the casting does not fit the cabinet.   the way this is fixed is to put a dado cut around the cabinet and make it smaller for the casting to fit.

Other things to look for...second check lever on the mills escalator (found on war eagle, bursting cherry, castle front...etc),  Newly painted mech parts, no reserve on the jackpot.

check Youtube and other sites.  you can find a lot of info about reproduction machines.

[Op-Bell]

Number 2 is a 1932 "Star", it's a rebuild of an earlier Operators Bell to add the twin jackpot. If it's unmodified and in good condition I would hazard a guess that its value is in the $2000-3000 range, but I'm looking at those suspicious bright screw heads above the 2nd and 3rd reels and mentally marking it down.

[IFFV68]

The Black Cherry AWARD CARD is correct.
One Cherry pays 2 coins, Two Cherry's pay 5 coins.
The other AWARD CARD is a Two cherry's pay 3 coins & Two Cherry's & a BELL-FRUIT- GUM, or LEMON pay 5 coins.
My castle front, dated 12/26/35, has the latter. It's made out of metal.. When I took it off their was a paper oval award card underneath. All original. The Award Cards also came in stainless looking color or black. The old machines where made when a nickle was worth a nickle.

If you notice the top piece & bottom piece are used on various Mills games.
Golden Falls, Bursting Cherry, Black Cherry, Diamonds, Etc. just to name a few.
They substitute the different theme pieces. Diamonds are used instead of Cherry's or a Golden Nugget Girl is used, Golden Falls, etc.

Not much different than today when games are cloned & the payouts are the same for different games.
The first slot machine was made in San Francisco in the late 1890's by Charles Fey. They are very few of those around, maybe a couple, don't really know for sure.
The rest is history.

[Montis Slots]

Hello Again,
The second picture down is that of a 1932 Mills/Pace Jackpot slot machine, pictured below out of the book Slot Machines On Parade by Geddes-Mead.
The top casting on this machine was used on many different machines such as the 1929 Mills Poinsettia, the 1928 Mills Torch Front, the 1932 Mills/Rockola Jackpot and yet a different version of the 1932 Mills/Pace Jackpot with all machines using a different lower casting. There may have been more, but those are the only ones I am familiar with.
The manufacturers of the day "stole" from each other on a regular basis when a popular casting was drawing players attention.
As to value, many variables need to be considered as to cosmetics and as to mech condition, Etc. Only hands on would appraise the value accurately.
The book referenced here, the Slot Machines On Parade has been out of print for some time but pops up on Ebay from time to time and is a very good reference book on slot machines as well as Marshall Fey's book "Slot Machines, America's Favorite Gaming Device", which for those who don't know him, is the grandson of Charles Fey who invented the first slot machine in San Francisco in the late 1800's. Marshall's book is still readily available.
I had seen Marshall's collection many times when it was located above the Liberty Bell Restaurant in Reno when he and his brother ran the restaurant/bar.
Now that was a collection to remember, not just the machines down stairs but if you knew Marshall well enough he would take you upstairs where all the "toys" were.
It always amazed me that the old building would hold all that weight.
Happy collecting to everyone,
Ciao,
Monti