Coin Slot Magazine - #065 - 1980 - July [International Arcade Museum]
SERIAL
NUMBER
UPDATE
By Dick Bueschel
When you get to playing the numbers game, as we do
with the serial number update, you begin to see
relationships between machines that aren't self evident at
first, but stand out like sore thumbs once you begin to
compare things. This month's listings have a good exam
ple or two.
Start with the first Mills serial. If you remember way
back, early in the beginning of this series, we had a Mills
OPERATOR BELL "Iron Case" number of 35,000. That
came out of an old Mills literature piece that showed the
footed OPERATOR BELL in its cast iron cabinet and said
that "35,000 of these machines in use", or something like
that. So here we have a wood cabinet iron front Bell with
the serial 35,299, and that's got to make it one of the first
wooden case machines made. The wonder is that it
survived.
To go on. See those Watling serials for the BLUE SEAL
VENDER and the TWIN JACKPOT in the34,000 to 53,000
range? Well, that's a clue to the dating of the "Flat Top"
BLUE SEAL and TWIN JACKPOT line. A California
collector was offered a Watling TREASURY at top dollar,
and the serial was in the 44,000 range. Does that tell you
something? It had been a recast and revamped TWIN
JACKPOT with a new TREASURY front. The collector was
happy as a mudlark that he had the wit and the knowledge
com happy
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to turn down the offer. The seller
wasn't particularly
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It all boils
htt down to the fact that The Coin Slot is a
collector publication, and the interests of the collectors-
© The International Arcade Museum
26 — THE COIN SLOT
neophyte to expert—come first. In the long run that will do
all of us the most good.
Another interesting serial; the Mills BLACK CHERRY
506,311. It showed up in early BLACK CHERRY ads
around 1948 when some dealers in used machines were
trying to sell them off. Now it comes back to us, as a
Buckley 1948 EXTRA AWARD CRISS CROSS BELLE, also
listed. It's the typical Buckley story, and the California
collector that owns the machine describes it well:
"It looks like it started as a BLACK CHERRY or GOLDEN
FALLS. lt"s been revamped or rebuilt a couple of times-
welded up holes—new and old parts in the mechanism. It
does not have the original reel strips, and now its a
Buckley CRISS CROSS"
The picture tells the story, and shows how it ended up.
These Buckley revamps can be very confusing, but we are
finally getting them straightened out. The whole story is in
the upcoming Coin Slot Guide No. 25 on the Buckley
JACKPOT BELLE and CRISS CROSS machines, with
photographs of all models. So if you're confused about
Buckleys, or think you have one, Coin Slot Guide No. 25
will answer most of the questions. It isn't printed yet, but is
scheduled to be at the printer in a month or so.
Our contributors this month are "Banana Joe" Babich of
Joliet and Mike Levin of Antique Games Ltd., Northbrook,
both of Illinois; Bill LaChance of Webster Groves, MO;
Ronald Simkoff of Lyndhurst, OH; Paul Konefke of St.
Clair Shores, Ml; Fred Sagebaum of Livingston, MT; Dan
Yeaton of Stanford, CT; Dick Gerlitz of Seattle, WA; and
Dave Smith of Laguna Hills and another unnamed collec
tor in California.
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
JULY, 1980