Coin Slot

Coin Slot Magazine - #060 - 1980 - February [International Arcade Museum]
Serial cftumSer Update
By Richard M. Bueschel
Lots of variety this month.
It was a banner month
started out in iron in
1915, went to aluminum
for serials, with a raft of collectors sending them
in
in.
front in 1923, and then to the "Bullseye" (i.e., a
Also, this time we have a bunch of pictures,
1922, with the front changing to the "Owl"
larger coin viewing window) in 1926.
and that helps a lot.
Then along
came the jack pot models of "Torch", "Poinsettia"
If you have serials, and can send some pictures
and the SILENT "War Eagle" and everything got
too, send them to:
confused again.
But if you know your fronts you
can spot a Mills and practically date it at ten yards.
Richard M. Bueschel
414 N. Prospect Manor Ave.
Many
Mt. Prospect, IL 60056
contributors
this
month,
including
New
Yorkers James M. Camp of Rochester, "Big Drive"
of Westbury, and an unnamed collector in Bing-
And now on to the serials.
a
group
For starters we have
of Mills serials that go a long way to
explain the difficult to define differences in the
hamton; Frank Leslie newly protected by a new
collectibility
law
in
New
Jersey;
Rick
Lee
in
Lincoln, MA; Joseph S. Jancuska of Luzerne, PA;
Mills machines of the late teens and early 1920s.
Chuck Treuter and an unnamed collector in Indi
Mills changed the fronts a lot in that time frame,
ana; Kelly Peccole of A & P Slots in Reno, NV;
but the changes are so subtle a lot of collectors
and Californians Ken and Elaine Miller of Ridge-
miss them.
crest
The
wooden
cabinet "Bell" front
and
Joseph
.com
m
:
u
m
e
d fro de-mus
e
d
a
rca is the Watiing
nlo machine.
208,568, from 1928.
P/a//7 Jane/ Bf/f a landmark
a This
.
w
o
w
BLUE SEAL JACKPOT
and serial 208,568 in
D in // the
w Frank Leslie collection.,
w
: This is Wat/ing's first produc
25c play, serial 34,120.
http
Frank
Leslie's
Mills
J.
Machado
JACK
POT
Get that:
1928!
of
Union
"Torch",
5c,
City.
serial
Serial 56,654 in 1922
That's 150,000 Mills Bell
machines sold in 6 years at the rate of 25 thousand ma
tion Jackpot Bell, and was a barn burner in its day as
chines a year.
it put the Jackpot on a production machine, not a re
Company and made them the IBM of the slot machine
vamped front.
business.
The date is 1929.
© The International Arcade Museum
That's what really built the Mills Novelty
http://www.arcade-museum.com/