Mechanical Memories Magazine

value, because the $ - £ exchange rate is c urrently wei g hed so much in o ur favo ur, in
real terms they converted into the same sterling p1ices as they we re in 200 I .
Fairl y few c lassic arcade type machines made appearance, but amo ngs t w hat was
there were some rea ll y interestin g exa mples . There was a R oc k- o la wo rld seri es
baseball game, a Buckley art deco crane (alread y so ld w hen I saw it) , a Ge nco Gy psy
G ra ndma and a repro C hicago co in Bandbox (a j ukebox item rea ll y) . T here was a ve ry
inte restin g repro Mill s submarine lung tester; do ubt yo u' ll see an orig ina l' I do n't reca ll
seeing an y C hester- Po ll a rd g ames o r Evans/ Willi ams Ten Stri kes. I a lso saw a few
60's baseba ll type pinball ga mes, a Willi ams 50 ' s skill cra ne (w hi ch was ni ce ly res to red
and wo rking), and a fa ir number of pinball based ga mes. Perh aps the bi gges t mi ss was
Steve Gronows ki , the co-p ro mo te r of the show up until it recentl y passed into o ther
hands . He a lways had an excell ent booth di spl ay ing o ri g in al and qua lity repro arcade
mac hines.
As rega rds antique ad ve11ising, w hi ch is another main stay of the show, thi s is n' t
so mething with w hi ch I am too familiar. Howeve r, it had a stro ng presence, was ofte n
qu ite beautifu l and certa in ly well wo 11h spending so me time view ing. It ra nged fro m,
I 880's g lass back-pa inted adve rti sing, vintage Coca-Co la materi a ls, Sa loo n bac kb a rs,
soda po p to odditi es such as paper we ig hts, rul ers and mi sce ll aneo us ·co untry sto re '
ite ms . I estimate that ad ve11ising, in o ne fo rm o r another, mi g ht represe nt o ne qu arte r o f
the show.
Anoth er show ma instay is · retro ' stuff; there is a fair bit of it, and so me of it is
genuine ly inte restin g. I g uess that it is an eas ier j ob fo r deal e rs to se t up presenting
new ly manufactured items than to continu all y so urce vintage mate ri al. So , repro ena mel
and tin sig ns, dinner booth mate ri als and new ly manufac tured e lec tro ni c pac hin ko
mac hines (y uk) and repro mec hani cal Mill s bandits togeth er pro babl y acco unted fo r a
aro und ano the r q ua11er of th e inside s how.
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