Coin Slot Magazine - #072 - 1981 - February [International Arcade Museum]
SERIAL NUMBER
Here we are, well into a new year, and the serials keep
rolling along. Very well, I might add. I had the
pleasure of being involved in the Christie's Auction
in New York late last year, and four different collectors
UPDATE
By Dick Bueschel
showed up for the seminar with lists of their serials in
extra. The "V" is added to the number—it certainly didn't
hand. A lot of nice new stuff, if that's the word. Who knows,
come first—so maybe it means "Drill Proof". Later Mills
when all the machines dry up (when's that? Just about
everybody expects that any day, yet the machines still
keep popping up!) and we can't afford to buy more than
one or two slots for our own collections we just might end
up as serial number collectors.
Bells all offered the "Drill Proof" feature as a standard
option (for $15 more, or something like that) and it never
changed the numbers. But maybe the first models to get it
had the "V". This prefix letter only seems to show up on
BROWN FRONT machines.
That ain't all bad you know. The serials seem to reveal
Then there's the Buckley prefixes. Buckley JACKPOT
machines we never heard of, or even thought of. This
long thought to be a Mills machine—why not, it has the
BELLES from around 1948-1950 had an "X" ahead of the
Mills serial number, perhaps to show this was a Buckley
revamp. As a matter of record, Buckley JACKPOT BELLE
Mills serial 245,318 from a 1929 FRONT O.K.—but closer
serial
inspection shows it to be a revamped Mills with the Van
CHERRY.
month is a good example. The Van Meter TRIPLE-J AX was
X-508,784
started
out
life
as
a
Mills
BLACK
Meter three-jackpot front. That places it right in the middle
Finally, the Watling prefixes. These have shown up so
1930s, getting a longer run out of an old machine for some
much we may have a real clue here. Only the late BLUE
operator.
SEAL models with two jackpots have the "T"—such as the
Check out that Pace GOLD CHROME. It's a dollar
TWIN JACKPOT BALL GUM VENDER serial T-51,235 on
machine without a jackpot, and an early Nevada model
the list—while earlier BLUE SEAL machines do not, nor do
circa 1946, serial 63,350. There are a lot of Pace models
the later ROL-A-TOP machines. So let's say "T" means
"Twin Jackpot" for the BLUE SEAL line, and not later lines.
Ditto for the "L" prefix for Watling TREASURY machines.
that are known from catalogs and old photos and ads that
haven't shown up yet in the flesh so to speak. So we'll have
more surprises here.
Does that mean "Eagle Front", or "Gooseneck"? It means
Perhaps the most interesting serials this month are the
something that's obvious. Does anyone know?
ones with prefixes. If we can only figure out what they
Our serials this month came from Bob Strauss of the
mean maybe we'll learn something. We can make a few
Chicago Antique Slot Machine Company in
Arlington Heights, Illinois; Stephen K Loots, the
publisher of VICTORY GLASS in Des Moines, Iowa; Dave
Kenney of Bryon, Illinois; Beverly Wright of Minneapolis,
Minnesota; Gary Teeter of Sarasota, Florida and an
unnamed collector in California.
guesses, anyway. So let's give that a shot.
This is the third or fourth Mills BROWN FRONT serial to
show up with a "V" prefix—see serial V-432,483. Could that
mean "Drill
Proof"? The BROWN
FRONT came out
"plain", and then the "Drill Proof" feature was added as an
Machine Name
Description
MILLS SERIALS
New Q.T.
Vest Pocket
Vest Pocket
1920 Operator Bell ("Bell")
1924 Operator Bell ("Owl")
Convert Jack Pot ("Torch")
1926 Operator Bell ("Bullseye")
1927 Front O.K. ("Bullseye")
1927 Baseball
B2JP
B
B
B
B
Convert Gooseneck ("Lion's Head")
Convert Gooseneck ("Lion's Head")
Jackpot Front Vender
1929 Front O.K. ("F.O.K.")
BJP
B
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a
Jackpot w
("Poinsettia")
Do //www.
Futurity
Silent h
Gold
ttp: ("Roman Head")
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Silent Golden ("Roman Head")
THE COIN
SLOT
© 28
The — International
Arcade
Museum
BFV
BFV
B2JP
B2JP
BFV
BFV
BJP
BJP
B2JPGA
B2JPGA
Tag Date
50
50
50
50
25$
250
25
5
50
50
25$
50
50
50
100
250
10
Serial #
26,372
22,104
28,470
40,524
131,561
141,706
165,816
166,913
182,550
215,999
288,622
244,615
245,318
266,156
321,218
324,626
332,662
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
FEBRUARY, 1981