Coin Slot Magazine - #055 - 1979 - September [International Arcade Museum]
By Dick Bueschel
This month's serial number list has a few sur
New
Hampshire.
The list also includes a Mills
lot of model dating confirmation.
SILENT GOLDEN "Roman Head" picked up by
Serial numbers are great by themselves, but it's
the author in a Michigan city in June of this year,
the dating that makes them useful. So when serials
come in accompanied by actual dates it makes
a likely town I asked myself what business a former
data all the more valuable.
slot operator would be in today just as I passed
prises and a
Some dating tid bits from this list include an
October 1901
date for a Mills DEWEY; a very
useful December 12, 1928 for a Mills JACKPOT
25c play, serial 311,841.
a restaurant supply store.
While driving through
So I stopped, went in,
explained what I was looking for, and ended up
going into the loft upstairs to pick up the "Roman
"Poinsettia" serial 215,167; a follow-up May 1929
Head" with a deal made on the spot.
date for the same type of machine serial 223,211
cheap, but based on current values it was a bar
and a November 1929 date for a Mills FREE PLAY
gain.
BASEBALL adaptation of the Mills Front O.K.
are beginning to learn what slots are worth these
with the serial number 245,268.
Mills made and sold somewhat over 30,000 Bell
days.
It also proves that there are a lot of machines
machines in 1929, obviously a vintage year just
still out there.
before the depression began.
That means that
At that rate Mills
It wasn't
It just goes to show that even the oldtimers
Here's a reminder if you plan to send in your
would have sold its 600,000 Bell machines in the
serial numbers; look for the dates.
twenties and thirties alone, but as we now know
ally find them on a piece of paper pasted to the
it took them twice as long to do the job.
You'll gener
inside of the cabinet, and if you find this paper
See what serials tell us!
check the serial number, too.
A welcome addition are some of the old floor
different than the number on the cabinet.
machines, including two (5,730 and 16,227) Mills
DEWEY
machines, a Caille
BULLFROG (serial
162) and a Caille CENTAUR (792).
At the more
It just might be
Also, •
if you find any manual or advertising piece in the
machine let us know as we are all interested in
any maintenance data that can help keep our ma- ,
modern end of the scale we now have Jennings
chines in shape.
serials going over the magic 200,000 mark with
piece that none of us have ever seen before and
an export version of the 1d play Jennings GOV
one
ERNOR with the serial 200,856. At the rate we're
Guide series.
going if we can keep this up some of the most
found,
difficult questions of slot
manuals, or find one, let me know.
machine history will
worthy
Who knows, you might find a
of including in the new Coin Slot
in the
That's where most of the paper is
machines.
So if you
have any
answer themselves.
A lot of collectors expect their machines to be
pristine and just the same as they left the factory.
But the facts of operational life make that almost
impossible in most cases.
For example, two Mills
BLUE FRONT serials came out of one machine,
with the cabinet stamped 421,160 and the inside
paper saying 411,083.
This happens a lot with
old slots, and shows the switching that took place
over the years.
.com
m
:
u
m collector
of Ft Lauderdale, FL, who is f a ro
new
use and
m
d
-
e
e
sent us the data on his
first
machine;
Dennis
d
d
a
oa who
l
c
r
n
Koesel of Aurora,
OH,
tells
us
that
the
fronts
a
.
w VICTORY
Dow Jennings
w
Photograph of Mills BLUE FRONT
on his wartime
CHIEF
ma
w
://
Two machines in one if we can believe the serial numbers.
chines are made
http of wood and painted bright
The serials this month come from Michael May
orange, a concession to wartime material shortages;
Gerald Wagner of San Diego, CA; Richard Fague
of San Francisco, CA; Jeff Frahm of Kirkwood,
MO; and unnamed collectors in Iowa, Utah and
© The International Arcade Museum
This Mills BLUE FRONT BJP (Bell, single jackpot) of
1937 has the number 421,160 stamped on its casting
and the paper tag serial 411,083 on the paper inside.
It proves that you should look inside and put if you're
looking for serial numbers and machine dates.
http://www.arcade-museum.com/