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 Since the prices are out of date and many of the dealers/collectors may no longer be collecting the machine we have purposely left this information out of the web version.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).

Condition Has A Lot To Do With Value
By Dick Bueschel

Has this column been misleading its reading audience? The question would never have come up except for the fact that a reader took an answer about a machine and, in his opinion, made a bad investment. What he didn't tell me when he first asked about the machine was its condition. I should say right here and now that this column is not intended to mislead, advise, buy or sell coin machines. It is here as a service, to try and bring some of the interest and excitement of collecting and enjoying antique coin machines to a wider audience that the tight collector community that has held them close to their belt for so many years. But coin machines are tricky. Some that look great are not rated as great collectibles, while others that look junky can be boomers. Like all fine collectibles, the inherent value is in the eye of the beholder, and the opinion of others. That's part of the trickiness of the hobby. If you like it and want it, hurrah, it's yours, so find it and keep it. But if you want to buy a machine, or sell one, the value is almost completely out of your hands. The determinant of value is largely in the hands of the dealer, or buyer.
And that's where condition becomes all important, and where pricing gets difficult. This column assumes that any machine in question is in fairly good condition, all there and working. We receive many letters asking about the value of a particular machine, with no photograph or description. Generally, these are sent back to the writer with the request for a photograph to determine the model or an accurate description of condition. That second go around is answered about half the time, with then other half disappearing into the proverbial Black Hole. At that point there is not much that can be done about an answer.
It gets somewhat more difficult when a photograph is sent, but is almost indiscernible. About a quarter of the letters received are in this class, with the machine either too far away in the image, or quite out of focus. So we try to do the best we can with that evidence, and make judgement calls. Sometimes we're wrong. And that's what happened in the case cited. The photo was a Polaroid print (notoriously bad as they are always out of focus, and rarely show details) of a fairly interesting vending machine. I used a magnifying glass to view the print, but couldn't make out the details. And then I made the classic collector mistake of taking a leap of faith. That's one of the great problems with collectors. We are all optimists, and want to believe in the best of things. That means that we often see an object as something more that what it is, particularly if it is a somewhat desirable, or even rare, object. So I quoted the retail value of the machine at $450, and wholesale at half, or $225. What I didn't know was that the machine had probably been setting out in the rain and weather for years and was a rust bucket well beyond restoration. The Polaroid picture, shot at a long distance, didn't reveal that and I had made a dumb mistake. The enthusiastic writer purchased the machine, in his opinion based on my advice, only to find that it was unrestorable and practically worthless. Quite logically he was upset, and I don't blame him. And so am I as the last thing I want to is mislead any readers about the value of their machines. I said it well in a column that appeared early in 1994 with the comments: "What do you do when you find a machine that has parts missing or doesn't work? Simple. You bring it back to working condition. But working alone isn't enough. The machine also has to look like it did when it was operational, which means that its cosmetics need to be retained, restored or replaced. This need to fix up, replace missing parts, restore where needed and recreate the experience of the original play or oper
When this column answers letters and indicates values, it is based on a clean, working example. Even at that it is only an estimate. We are certainly not responsible for any sell or buy decisions you may make as a result. All we are trying to do here is help you, and bring some of the happiness of coin machine collecting your way. I would therefore ask that if you have a question about a machine, please send good photos, and try and describe its condition as best you can. And consider the fact that the answer you get isn't necessarily chiseled in stone. I tremendously enjoy responding to letters and writing this column of shared coin-op adventures, and get many letters from readers saying how much they enjoy the column. I try my darndest, but I can be wrong sometimes, too. The fact is, I have a basement full of mistakes, and I wonder how many of you have the same thing.

Q. - I recently purchased this FLIP SKILL arcade machine for $50. But it's missing the coin/play mechanism. Are there sources for a replacement? Any information regarding age and manufacturer would be appreciated. I enjoy your column in Antique Week. R. F., Stockbridge, GA.
A. - What an absolutely fabulous counter arcade game you have in your Mills Novelty FLIP SKILL. It was made in 1939 as a legal counter machine that required skill to play. The machine is rare, sought after, and worth about $650 in today's market all shipshape and playable. Which is not bad for a $50 investment.
Except for that missing coin chute. It is distinctive, purely Mills and made specifically for this machine. I can't imagine where you would find one, unless a junker FLIP SKILL shows up, and I've never seen one. But be reassured. 90% of the game is certainly better than nothing. And who knows, some day you just might run across the missing parts for ten bucks. Cross your fingers.

Q. - Enclosed are photographs of a part of a slot machine, or maybe parts of two. The other picture is a peanut machine. I would certainly appreciate it if you could identify them and give me a rough idea of their value. P. W., Cincinnati, OH.
A. - In the field of collecting vintage coin machines, you have made what is known in the hobby as a "basket case" find. The slot machine is the Superior Confection Company GOOSENECK GOLD AWARD made in Columbus, Ohio, in 1934. The vender is the William Michael GUMBALL made in Indianapolis in the early 1930s. Both are desirable machines in good condition. But yours are trashed. The slot machine is in exceedingly poor condition and missing parts, and the Michaels GUMBALL vender has a broken globe. It's globe is so unique it is probably half the value of the machine. My book A Collector's Guide to Vintage COIN MACHINES lists the Superior GOOSENECK GOLD AWARD at $1,600 in prime condition, but less than a quarter of that as a basket case, or in the neighborhood of $200 to $300. Bill Enes lists the Michaels GUMBALL in his book Silent Salesmen Too at $350, with less than a quarter of that as a basket case, or around $60 to $75 or so.

Q. - Is this a slot machine or a gumball machine? Approximate age and value? C. P., Vincennes, IN.
A. - What you have is a counter game, the Midwest Novelty Manufacturing Company IMPROVED LION BABY VENDOR of 1932. Midwest Novelty later became Bally, which became the gambling machine maker of the 60s to the present. A reasonable retail value for your machine, which needs restoration, is about $250, or half that wholesale.

(c) Richard M. Bueschel, 1995