TALES OF THE HUNT
Hosted by Jack Freund
This issue's "TALE" comes from Tim Christensen. He lives in "The Show Me State" of Missouri. It is
a great story about a great find. In fact, it's a story of two finds, both of the same machine! Let's name this
"TALE" ..... ..... .
KNOWLEDGE IS MONEY IN THE BANK
(Please see my footnote at the end of this story).
I have been a spare time coin-op collector/dealer since the middle 1980's. I have concentrated on slot
machines for the most part and like most folks, have grown to appreciate the less common varieties as my
knowledge has expanded. I attended the Chicago shows and Arrington's Auctions in Las Vegas regularly
in the 80's and have had plenty of help from other collector/dealers around the country.
I bought my first Jennings golf ball vender in the late 1980's. I have golfed since I was about 10, so as
a slot machine collector and golfer, it seemed like one I had to own. At that time, they were running
between $2000 - $3000, and they were somewhat easier to find than today (even without EBAY!). Well,
after a few years, I found another machine that I had to have even more than the golf ball machine and I
traded it away, but that's another story . ..
The years go by . . .It is now early September 2003. I'm doing a Saturday night "time waster", checking
out e-bay slot machine listings. As you e-bay slot-watchers know, most Saturday nights are like watching
paint dry. Usually very boring, but every now and then there's a good item with a bargain " buy it now"
price. If you are lucky enough to be watching at the right time, and lucky enough for the item to be fairly
represented, then you get a "fantastic find". That's what happened to me that night.
There it was, a Mills golf ball vendor! Listed with a starting price around $5000 and a "buy it now" of
$7500. There were a couple of photos, but you couldn't see if the mechanism was correct. I e-mailed the
seller to see if he could supply better pictures. I was sure someone would hit it if I waited much longer.
The machine was within driving distance, so that helped with the decision. I decided if I went to pick it up
and it wasn't correct, I could probably back out of the deal. About 20 minutes after I first saw the listing I
hit the "buy it now".
After making the decision to buy it I traded e-mails and phone conversations with the seller. We agreed
that I would drive to his place the following weekend with a cashier's check to cover the transaction and
pick up the machine. He forwarded me better photos that gave me the confidence that the machine was cor-
rect.
The next weekend I drove about 4 hours, paid for and picked up my machine. When I got home I
unloaded it and gave it a good cleaning. The escalator had a couple of quarters lodged, and the glass was
broken as if someone tried to pry them out. The reels were set on jackpot. This had to be due to someone
cleaning out the golf balls when they put the machine in storage. The machine was still set for battery oper-
ation. The old dry cells were rotting away. I bought a couple 6volt batteries, hooked them up and the pay-
out worked properly the first time. The machine needed a good cleaning, but all in all it's in great shape
and was well cared for ( at least well stored ).
OK, here's the real start of the story. The real "fantastic find". Oh sure, mine was good enough for me
and good enough for most of us. But the real one is the one you dream about. When I was loading the
machine up I asked the seller to tell me about the machine. He seemed a little sheepish. He told me he had
decided he wasn't going to share his story, but after he met me and after I asked he changed his mind. He
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