C.O.C.A. Times

Horse Race
Slot Machine
most museums, the old advertising pieces were fas-
cinating. We picked up a few trinkets at the gift
shop and started back on the highway. The highway
seemed lined with antique shops and we stopped
frequently. At one mall, they had a Horse Race Slot
Machine in a glass case (see photo). This old
machine was in excellent condition. Too bad it was-
n't for sale.
At another antique mall (in Austin), we
picked up a 1920's Northwestern
Match Machine with a funky paint job
(see photo). The machine worked and
the price was right -- $67.50. Then on
to San Antonio.
1920's Northwestern
Match Machine
On Monday, in San Antonio, we did some sight see-
ing. We visited the site of the Alamo and toured the
river walk which was lovely. We also had dinner at
an authentic Mexican restaurant with strolling gui-
tar players. And, of course, we did some antiquing.
One shop in particular (The Antique Center) was
full of Juke Boxes, Slot Machines, Coke Machines
and Gumball and Peanut Machines. My wife fell in
love with a large Slot Machine that dispensed ciga-
rettes. It was tall, very old and had a wooden cabi-
net. The store owner said it generated a lot of inter-
est. The machine was priced at $2400.00 I wonder
if it's still there? The store owner also mentioned
that normally the man who owned all the coin-op
machines would be available, but he had already
left for the Chicago show. We all enjoyed our brief
stay in San Antonio, and would love to visit again.
Next we drove on to our most anticipated stop -
Warrenton. I had read about Warrenton and Round
Top, and wanted to visit these cities and their twice
annual flea market. The cities of Round top,
Warrenton and Shelby are small rural communities,
each about 5 miles from each other. For a one week
period in Spring and a second week in the Fall, the
towns join and put on one incredibly large flea mar-
ket. As you drive up to Warrenton, the traffic slows.
There are hundreds of vendors set up along side the
road, sometimes 5 and 10 vendors deep. You can
park your car in a field for $3.00 and walk up and
down the highway for miles. when done in that area,
you can move your car up to the next concentration
of vendors or even Round Top, park, and beginning
flea marketing again. We began flea marketing on
Tuesday, and noticed on Wednesday and then again
on Thursday morning, that more and more vendors
were corning to set up. We were told that some ven-
dors didn't set up until Friday, and that the weekend
was incredibly busy. We were disappointed we
wouldn't be there to view everything, but satisfied
we were there early to get some first looks and
avoid the really heavy crowds. We were told some
vendors had already been set up the weekend
before. Overall, we were amazed at the numbers of
vendors set up and figured if you can't find it here,
you probably can't find it. And, the area was almost
entirely antiques and collectibles - no overstock and
few crafts. We found old Scales, Soda Machines,
Advertising, Old Registers and some Coin-Op. We
also ran into a few fellow coin-op collectors - Sam
from Ft. Worth (whom we had met in '97 at the
Canton flea market) was set-up and selling coin-op
vending machines. He had nice machines which
were priced right. We purchased some Victor and
Master machine top caps from him to use as parts.
Also, we met up with Phil Cunningham.
Mark 'Zarkos & Pat Jones Booth
I walked into one vendor booth where I saw a num-
ber of coin-op machines. The booth was operated
by Mark Zarkos and Pat Jones (see photo). I had
met them previously at the Chicago show, but I
introduced myself because you meet so many peo-
ple I felt they probably didn't remember me. When
I told them I was John Carini, one of them remarked
they had read our previous article in the C.O.C.A.
newsletter, where we explained we would be com-