This information provided via the courtesy of Vintage Slots of Colorado, Inc.

If you have an antique coin machine and want to sell it, please send me an email. If I am not interested in it, I will forward your email to a collector who probably is.


The following information is the web version of Coin Op on CD which was a book all about antique coin machines and it was distributed on a CD-ROM. This book was written in 1995 and sold in 1996. Please take this into consideration when reading the articles. There are no plans to come out with version 2. However, we do plan on periodically updating the information on the web version.
The CD version of the book has pricing information as well as a dealer directory. Since the prices are out of date and many of the dealers/collectors may no longer be collecting the machine we have purposely left this information out of the web version. However, we do keep in contact with many dealers and collectors who are actively buying and selling machines and would be happy to put you in touch with one if you have a machine you are looking to sell.

If you are looking to purchase an antique coin machine you may also send me an email and I will put you in touch with a reputable dealer. Odds are, I will not be selling the machine you are looking for (since I rarely sell any machines).


COIN MACHINES Column
Antique Week magazine
By Dick Bueschel

One of the biggest challenges this hobby faces is the creation of new collectors. Without a feed from the bottom the numbers of collectors will diminish with time, and their machines will be dispersed. If the collector base is too small to assimilate these machines they will face the destruction and ruin they were saved from the first time around. In the long run the machines and vintage coin-op collectibles will themselves diminish until the hobby is all but gone.
That is the doomsday prophecy. There is also another way to look at the need. And that is to maintain the health of the hobby. Vintage coin machine collecting has been based on a rigid stream of supply. Someone finds the machine, sells it to a picker who in turn sells it to an advanced dealer (or even an advanced collector) who then marks it up for resale, until it ultimately reaches collector hands. Even there the movement of the machine doesn't stop, as collectors sell more to each other than they sell to the public at large, or than the public sells to them. Therefore it requires dealers and collectors willing to pay what they believe a machine is worth to maintain the steady stream of supply. Money may be the root of all evil, but it is also the root of a lot of joy. Vintage coin machine collecting is based on money. It needn't be big money, for many excellent collections have been built on shoestrings. But it takes the shoestring collector, and the others, to continue to drive the hobby forward. If for no other reason this is why new collectors are needed in order to at least maintain the status quo of collecting; finding a ready market, with people willing to pay for their machines as well as restorations. To keep collecting viable you need sellers and buyers, entry level and top level, and all levels in between.
The final reason is a philosophical one. It is a matter of sharing the joy. I don't know of a vintage coin machine collector that doesn't just love it. If they didn't they would have gotten out of this both frustrating and rewarding hobby long ago. It's just a damn thrill. And the thrill lives on. If we enjoy it, shouldn't others? And sharing that thought alone makes us want to bring others into the fold. We know they will enjoy themselves and get as much kick out of it as we all do.
The secret is reaching potential collectors at the entry level. It was for this very reason that I proposed a column called COIN MACHINES to the editor and publisher of Antique Week magazine, the largest circulation weekly antique publication in the country with Eastern and Central editions that reach out all over North America. The whole idea was to reach beginning collectors, or people that didn't really know they were interested in vintage coin machines until they read something about them, and offer them a forum to ask questions and learn more about this fascinating hobby. The first column ran in August 1991, and very quickly became a well read feature. One thing that the readers liked was the fact that I would answer their questions, provided they gave me a photograph of their machine and a S.A.S.E. return envelope so that the return postage costs wouldn't be mine. Since then the column has run once a month, and many hundreds of questions have been answered. Assuming the readers of this CD-ROM to be an extension of the Antique Week family, with a number of entry level readers included, the same offer is extended to you. If you have machine questions, send me some pictures and an S.A.S.E. and ask me what you want to know. Typical questions will ask the maker of the machine, when and where it was made, what its name is, does it has any special features and what's it worth? I'll be glad to personally answer your questions, and have them published in Antique Week.
To give you an idea of the kinds of subjects are covered, and what questions are asked, the first 50 columns as submitted to Antique Week from 1991 until February 1996, are contained in this CD-ROM file. Check them out, and then get involved with your own questions and answers.

Send your questions to:
Richard M. Bueschel
414 N. Prospect Manor Avenue
Mt. Prospect, IL 60056-2046
Tel. 1-847-253-0791
FAX: 1-847-253-7919

Also, if you have an interest in coin-op antiques in the form of machines and original literature, as well as in jukeboxes, pinball games, antique advertising and other vintage artifacts, send me 6 stamps and I will also send you my 30+ page list of items for sale.

If you would like to get Antique Week to continue to follow the COIN MACHINES column, its address and subscription rates are:
ANTIQUE WEEK
P. O. Box 90
Knightstown, IN 46148
Phone: 1-800/876-5133
FAX: 1-800-695-8153

Subscription: $27.45 in USA per year
2 years, $50.25
3 years, $72.25
Sample copy $1 postpaid
Trial subscription 13 weeks, $3.50
6-months, $13.35