Coin Slot Magazine - #055 - 1979 - September [International Arcade Museum]
Antique 'one-armed bandits'
become legit collector's items
ALBANY — You may not get a
chance to legally play a slot ma
chine in New York state, but the
state Legislature has made it a lit
tle easier to collect antique ver
sions of the one-armfcd bandits —
just for old time's sake.
Gov. Hugh L. Carey signed a bill
Thursday allowing collectors to
use a slot machine's age as "an af
firmative defense" against convic
tion on charges of possessing a
gambling instrument.
Under the legislation, slot ma
chines manufactured before 1941
are presumed to be antiques unless
the state can prove the} «*re being
used for gambling. Gambling still
is illegal, or at least will be until
<
the Legislature decides to legalize
casino gambling, not a sure thing.
The slot machine bill was part of
a grab bag of about 50 proposals
signed by the governor, who is
drawing near to a Monday deadline
*, for action on bills passed by the
Legislature before it recessed
June 17.
Carey has signed 560 bills and
has about 150 left for action. Any
measures not signed or vetoed by
midnight Monday automatically
becomes law, but that has not hap
pened in about 100 years.
Assemblyman James R. Tallon,
D-Binghamton, who sponsored the
slot machine bill, said he was ap
proached by collectors in his dis
trict who were worried that their
machines might be confiscated
and destroyed by overzealous law-
enforcement agents.
Also, Tallon said that the ma
chines used to be manufactured in
Binghamton by the B\xt\6y Time
Recorder Co.,
IBM.
a predecessor of
Tallon said about 15 to 20 states
have similar legislation to protect
the collectors and "there are an
army of collectors out there."
Besides the slot machine bill,
Carey signed several major pro
posals Thursday, including a bill
cutting the maximum tax on per
sonal income and one banning,
without legislative and gubernato
rial approval, the establishment in
the state of a permanent reposi
tory for nuclear wastes.
The governor has not acted on
several major bills, including mea
sures to legalize the use of laetrile
for cancer patients, reimpose the
death penalty, and require firms to
disclose answers to questions used
in tests like the college boards.
SCENES
Metalmorphosis
Up until 10 days ago, they Jed a furtive
and illegal existence. The smallest slip
could bring the police, axes swinging.
Thanks to the recent .passage of Bill
225.32, collectors of antique slot machines
can finally emerge proudly,; outlaws no
longer. I'm not talking about those electro-
slick one-armed bandits used in- the
casinos of Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
I'm talking about Dough Boys, Silent
Sphinxes, War Eagles, Baseball O.K. Ven
dors, Little Dukes, Cherry Front Rol-a-
tops, Silver Cups, Victoria Silents, Lin
coln De Luxes, and Silent Goosenecks, all
fast on their way to becoming the most
important new collectibles around.
What are these quaint-sounding
com
.
m
:
u
names? They
belong to those wonderful
use
from old
m
d
slotsjou
may rememBer seeing tucked
-
e
e in the corner of a friend's home, or
load .arcad away
n
if you're old enough, in long gone
w
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barbershops and saloons, rigged to pay off
:
the luckier gamblers. These gems boast
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beautiful hand-crafted designs, as in
digenously American as the cowboy boot.
They were invented in the U.S. and have
only been made in this country.
Naturally, in most states, .gambling has
long been illegal. Since the turn of the
© The International Arcade Museum
12
All bills passed by the Legisla
ture are scrutinized in the office of
the governor's counsel, now head
ed by Richard Brown, a former
judge. However, some of the mea
sures require little study.
Earlier, this year, for example,
Carey signed a measure repealing
a section of the General Business
Law under which the secretary of
state was to distribute to county
clerks an instrument for measur
ing the specific gravity of whale
oil. The measure apparently was
adopted in 1836.
A
few years ago,
a
puckish
county clerk asked for the "oleo-
meter" the state was supposed to
furnish him. Nobody w the secre
tary of state's office knew what Ire
was talking about.
—
JEFF STOREY
century, an endless stream of restrictive
laws were passed forcing some manufac
turers* to attach features, like candy dis
pensing devices, to disguise the true payoff
nature pf the contraptions. The most
famous of all crusaders was, of course,
Mayor La Guardia, who, with his moral
troop'of quick destroyers, swept New York
City clean of such illicit devices. The final
blow came in 1941 when the six companies
which produced the machines ceased turn
ing them out and began helping the war
effort.
It is estimated that of all the slots
originally manufactured only one per cent
(10,000) have survived premeditated
mutilation or fates like being chucked into
rivers. The best models extant are now
valued at between $2000 and $12,000,
depending- on their condition, serial num
bers, dating, and degree of restoration, but
certain rarities sell for astronomical fig
ures. When California legalized collecting
in 1976, prices tripled. Another big jump
will also occcur here.
Right after-the New York provision was
passed on July 10, I got together with Gil
Shapiro, one of the leading East Coast
experts, collectors, and now, along with
his partner, Leonard Schechter, a public
dealer. Lou Meisel, also an important
collector associated with Shapiro and
Schechter, joined us. We convened at
Urban
Archaeology, ScKechter- and
Shapiro's store on Spring Street, which by
next week will have sprouted a subsidiary,
the Great American Slot Machine Com
pany. They showed me some of their
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