Coin Slot

Issue: 1976 August 019

Coin Slot Magazine - #019 - 1976 - August [International Arcade Museum]
CURRENT SCENE
By Bob Rosenberger
Harrah's Automobile Collection held its second Pony Express Auction
in Reno, Nevada on June 10-12, 1976. The items up for auction were
largely from the original W. Parker Lyon Pony Express Museum now lo
cated at the Automobile Collection. Among the items auctioned were
several upright and 3-reel slot machines, along with a number of other
gambling-related items.
Harrah's first auction had been held on June 5-7,1975, almost exactly
one year before. This first one had had the distinction of being the first
auction or sale where coin-operated gambling machines were prominently
displayed and sold. As such, it attracted collectors from across the coun
try. Its success led collector Roy Arrington of Las Vegas to establish peri
odic auctions of his own which have also been huge successes. Con
sequently, fifteen-to-twenty machine collectors, mostly from the West
Coast, gathered for Harrah's second auction with great expectations. By
and large, however, they were to be disappointed.
Like the first one, the auction extended over a three-day period. Items
to be auctioned were available for viewing the day before the auction
started as well as before the auction began each day. The viewing area was
closed off once the auction began. As a result, the auction moved rather
quickly as the bidders used their well-illustrated catalogues for reference.
In fact, the auction ended each day by 1:00 P.M. Most people felt that
the auction could easily have been condensed into a two-day session.
Before the auction began, Nevada officials went through all the articles
up for auction and identified those that they considered to be gambling
items. By law, bidding on these was restricted to legal residents of Nevada,
21 years of age and older. It was fairly obvious that no consistent rule-of-
thumb was used for classifying the items: ornamental castings, coin heads
and lithographed tin discs for uprights were classified as gambling devices
while non-payout trade stimulator machines were not. A blackjack table
was not considered a gambling device while a very similar-appearing
Chuck-a-Luck table was. As a result, those items that were considered
gambling devices were sold for surprisingly reasonable prices while items
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like the trade stimulators sold for higher-than-expected prices.
The first item up for bid was lot #43, three gooseneck mechanisms.
Classified as gambling, the three pieces sold for a total of $400. Lot #44,
© The International Arcade Museum
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
Coin Slot Magazine - #019 - 1976 - August [International Arcade Museum]
also classified as gambling, was a Caille Doughboy cabinet and partial
mechanism which sold for $100. Lot #45 was the first set of upright
parts to go up for sale. In general, the parts (especially the tin wheels)
were not in as good condition as might have been expected from the
catalogue pictures. Like all the other lots of machine parts to follow,
Lot #45 was classified as gambling. The six tin wheels, Caille mechanism
main frame and other associated parts sold for $300, a price somewhat
lower than many people expected. Lot #148 was the next major set of
parts to go up for bid. It was probably the most desirable of all the parts
lots in the auction since it contained four Caille coin heads as well as
several Caille Centaur front castings and wheels. After several minutes of
spirited bidding between two resolute, determined bidders, lot #148 was
sold for $3900. The willingness of the successful bidder to go to such
prices, if necessary, apparently cowed the unsuccessful bidders. During
the remainder of the auction, the parts lots were auctioned off at very
reasonable prices to the same bidder without much competitive bidding.
Only two of the three-reelers were really of top quality, either from an
appearance or a rarity standpoint. The two attractive three-reelers were
the 10 Little Duke with gum vendor (Lot #121) in excellent unrestored
condition which sold for $800 and the Caille Superior (Lot #152) in
magnificent restored condition, which sold for $925. The balance of the
three-reelers, in varying conditions of unrestored, sold for prices ranging
from $400 to $650. These were mostly purchased by Nevada residents
who wanted one or two machines for their home.
The trade stimulators, some rare, some not-so-rare, sold for fairly hefty
prices as most of them were not classified as gambling devices. Lot#127,
classified as gambling, was a 3-in-1 dice machine, reputedly produced by
Charles Fey in the 1920's. It sold for $450. Lot #130, not gambling, was
a Little Perfection 5-reel poker machine in very good unrestored con
dition which sold for $600. A desirable Mills Commercial five-reel flip-
card poker machine, Lot #149, not classified as gambling, sold for $750.
Although all the small cards were intact, the purchaser took a bit of a risk
since the front glass as well as the plunger activator were missing and the
back casting was cracked. A very unusual, old five-reel flip-card poker
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machine (Lot #158) in cast iron, not gambling, produced or distributed by
the Monarch Card Machine Company of San Francisco sold for $700.
Although the machine lacked a marquee and was not operating, the ma
chine attracted several bidders due to its apparent age and rarity. The
balance of the trade stimulators, all not classified as gambling and pro
duced in the late '20's or '30's, sold for prices ranging from $225 to $425.
A very attractive late model Watling Brownie Jackpot (Lot #120) in
oak was classified as gambling and sold for $1425. This machine, although
one of the last models of the counter-top pinwheel machine to be pro-
© The International Arcade Museum
http://www.arcade-museum.com/

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