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 Since the prices are out of date and many of the dealers/collectors may no longer be collecting the machine we have purposely left this information out of the web version.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


Discipline Crossover Adds Interest to Coin-Ops
By Dick Bueschel

The smartest thing a columnist can do is throw in a telephone number and address at the end of a feature because one of the greatest rewards for doing the work at all is hearing from readers. There's not a lot of response-you've got to remember, we're talking about a fairly obtuse subject when we concentrate on coin machines-but what there is can often be fascinating. We learn from each other. In the greater scheme of things-the universe of antiques, for instance-no one can know it all, and there's always a lot to learn. That makes any communication a two-way street. Usually people write to me, including photos, and that makes putting a column together a lot easier than starting from ground zero every time. Pictures replace a thousand words (the way I talk and write, maybe two) and allow all of us to see the subject. It also helps me determine what model of what machine is being discussed, and tells me something about the condition. So keep those cards and letters and photos and questions coming in; it's the raw material that leads to a finished product.
But don't let me forget to promote the telephone, too. Sometimes the calls can lead to something concrete. This column, as an example. It was after a column earlier this year that I received a call commenting on a few points about the feature when my caller said, "I collect other things, too, such as cast iron banks, old advertising signs, Ohio manufacturing artifacts and a lot of other stuff that seems to overlap into coin machines. Why don't you write about that sometime?"
Alright, I will. Starting off with the relationship of coin machines to cast iron banks. The discipline crossover is so significant, and interesting, it may even inspire some of our readers into new collectibility areas. One reason for the crossover is that both types of machines take coins and, sometimes, give you something for your money in the way of entertainment. So what's the difference between a toy bank and a coin machine? Granted both take coins, with some banks bigger than classic coin-ops, although mostly vice-versa. The difference is subtile. It's a matter of who gets the money. A bank is a savings device wherein the user deposits money (and makes a girl skip a rope, dog jump a hoop, man shoot a bear, horses race around a track, whatever) to accrue for removal in larger amounts at a later date to spend, bank (real bank, that is) or invest. The depositor, or the friends and relatives of same, gets to keep the money with the toy bank teaching frugality. A coin-machine, on the other hand, is just the opposite. The depositor puts the money in and never sees it again. In return, the dropping of a coin offers a chance at winning more, in cash or trade, or vends a product, permits use of the device (such as a scale, or shoeshine machine), provides entertainment for the money (such as music, a gun game, 2-player soccer game, whatever and ever) and does whatever else the coin machine was designed to do. Coin-ops are decidedly commercial ventures, early on called "Silent Salesmen," providing goods, services or entertainment for money.
In short, when you play a coin machine you are spending the money; when you put it in a toy bank, you are saving it. Outgo vs. income.
Having said that, there are overlaps. And that's where politics, American industrial history, theories of democracy and protectionism for the common good come into play. That all goes back to Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Both were brilliant, intelligent, robust, very human and entertaining men with great senses of humor, one older and one quite young, when the republic of the United States of America was formed. Together they did much to establish the ethics and protections of American democracy, leading to laws and practices. One result was the determination that gambling was not in the public interest and therefore the Federal Government could not allow the patenting of gambling devices, games or machines so that their inventors would benefit financially from their ideas. That was a crimp for these smart gentlemen as both were inventors. But they saw devices and techniques designed to bilk the populace as an evil, and they weren't about to let inventors of these devices cash in on their ill conceived schemes. It is much like the anti-criminal book laws (you shouldn't financially benefit from a crime committed against others), drug dealer confiscations and restrictions against capital case witnesses testifying in public prior to their day in court (although the O. J. Simpson Trial seems to have blown that all to hell!). So if somebody came up with a terrific trade stimulator or payout slot machine that promised to make a fortune in the saloons and cigar counters of the country in the late 1800s and thereafter they couldn't protect it against copycatting by a patent.
Unless they called it a toy bank!
It happened a number of times, and sometimes with amusing results. One of the very first of the cast iron toy banks was based on a gambling theme. The RACE COURSE bank of 1871, made by the J. & E. Stevens Company in Cromwell, Connecticut, has small horses racing around in a circle. Perhaps it was created as a child's toy (in which case it was teaching the virtues of racing), or it was even conceived as a barroom gambling device (some certainly showed up there, with the later BIG RACE COURSE and RACE AGAINST TIME versions a basic saloon piece for years afterward). Whatever its origins, it made a lot of money for the J. & E. Stevens Company for years and made them one of the leading producers of cast iron toy banks for children as evidenced by their later catalogs and the surviving examples of their craft. So that end of their business may well have had odious origins.
Even more blatant was the classic BANKER WHO PAYS "Sitting Man" gambling machine created by a New York carpenter named Edward S. McLoughlin. The small bartop gambling machine is the cast iron figure of a French Cavalier in a broad brimmed hat resting his head on a wheel that has the copy GUESSING BANK above it. That word "bank" got it a patent as a "Toy Money-Box" on May 22, 1877, patent number 191,065. But when the games were made, it carried the copy "Pays five for one if you call the number." That word "pays" is the tipoff. What kid is going to give money away if someone hits the right number with a pointer, and where are they going to get the money? This is a saloon piece, not a toy bank, and it paid off in beers. Yet the toy bank collectors have embraced the machine because that what its patent says it is. Major toy bank collections have examples of this machine made by the Smith Winchester Manufacturing Company of South Windham, Connecticut, in the 1870s and '80s, and swear they are toy banks. But to the coin-op community they are recognized for something quite different. They are regarded as the very first bona-fide coin operated chance machine, and coin-op historians like the fact that it is American.
The next version of the GUESSING BANK was even more blatant than that. Instead of the French Cavalier sitting over the wheel they placed a scantily clad young lady in a standing position next to the wheel in the McLoughlin PRETTY WAITER GIRL GUESSING BANK of 1880. This charming young woman is practically bursting out of her clothing, with a low cut bodice and can-can style costume. Once again the copy "Pays five for one" is below the wheel. Just how many young boys do you think got this wonderful toy bank for Christmas? If everything we have heard about the Victorian period is true, I'd say none. It ain't a bank; it's a gambling wheel, and a super saloon piece. Sadly only one example of this terrific piece of history is known.
The late outstanding toy bank collector Edwin H. Mosler, Jr. had another piece that he was worried about. It was a gun game called the Hillman COIN TARGET BANK, and shot a coin down a glass cylinder to land in specific holes numbered 1, 2 and 3. "Is this a bank?", he asked. The manufacturer's name was on the face of the casting: "Mfg'd By/M. Siersdorfer & Co./Cin. O." It looks like a bank, it plays like a bank, and it showed up in cast iron bank collections, but was it what it appeared to be? When I sent copies of advertisements from The National Police Gazette of 1884 to Mosler, showing an ad offering "3 slot machines free" for the saloon and cigar trade, the issue was truly in doubt. Then, when I discovered the photograph of an old saloon with a COIN TARGET BANK in the bar, next to other gambling slot machines, the determination was clear. It was a gambling device, patented as a toy bank. When later contemporary literature was discovered that showed the way the game played, with the shooter getting 1, 2 or 3 drinks or cigars for successfully landing in the appropriate slot, it was obvious. The bank collectors had another gambling machine in their midst.
I'm sure there are many more that are yet to be found. Maybe you know of some, or suspected possibilities. They should show up in the toy bank patents, or in surviving examples. The test is a simple one: who gets the money? Is it spent, or saved. If it is spent, that's no toy, and we may be on the way to discovering yet another historical coin machine. So keep your eyes (and minds!) open, bank collectors and enthusiasts.
Oh, that telephone number and address: 1-847/253-0791, FAX: 1-847-253-7919. Richard M. Bueschel, 414 N. Prospect Manor Avenue, Mt. Prospect, IL 60056-2046.


Q. - I'd be interested in information you may have about a trade stimulator that I've had for over 20 years. It is cast aluminum and is marked TAVERN on the front. When was it made? J. W., St. Paul, MN.
A. - Once Repeal came into being in 1933, with beer, wine and whiskey being sold over the bar for the first time since Prohibition was the law of the land at the end of 1919, all sorts of new locations for coin machines were opened up. The taverns (the word "Saloon" had been outlawed by law in most states, and only started coming back in the 60s when these repressive language laws were repealed one by one) were the most popular. So the major counter game makers took their popular games and added new names to them.
The Groetchen Tool Company of Chicago took their DANDY VENDER of 1930, and in 1935 added the name marquee TAVERN on a casting at the top. TAVERN Model A had beer symbols of steins, growlers, whiskey bottles and glasses. It is the most preferred and generally sells for around $500 retail. TAVERN Model B mixed beer symbols with cigarette packs, and sells for about $400. The final version, usually known as "Model C," just kept the standard fruit symbols of the original DANDY VENDER. This is the machine you have. It is the least preferred of the TAVERN models, but still sells retail in the $250 range with the TAVERN marquee on top. All of these machines go for about half their price at wholesale, dropping down below $100 if they are in poor condition. The similar but somewhat rarer THE BARTENDER version is illustrated and priced in my book A Collector's Guide to Vintage Coin Machines, with retail listed at $500 in prime condition, which means it sells at $250 wholesale.

Q. - Enclosed are photos of my two trade stimulators. One is a PURITAN, and how does it pay out in mints? The other is a 1› BALL GUM. Are these common machines? Is there a book with these machines in it? Could you give me approximate values? G. D., Lincolnton, NC.
A. - You have two interesting questions as so little is known about trade stimulators and counter games. The marketer of your PURITAN CONFECTION VENDER was Chicago Mint Company (it should say so on the top casting), introduced in 1928. They didn't make them, though, as I believe production was by Sanders Manufacturing Company in Chicago, although their name is not on it. Theoretically when you played a nickel you could lift the roll mint vender arm at lower left and get a mint roll, but these were mostly blocked by the location as play was usually pure gambling, playing off over the counter on the fruit symbols. Value is rated at about $550 at retail, half that at wholesale.
The machine that says "Ball Gum" at the top is the PURITAN made by the Buckley Manufacturing Company in Chicago between 1932 and 1940. Value is about $450 retail, half that at wholesale.
There is an excellent all pictorial book about these machines called For Amusement Only. It was written and published by Tom Gustwiller in Ottawa, OH. You can reach him to get a copy at 419/523-6395 days, 419/523-6556 evenings. You might also like my book A Collector's Guide to Vintage Coin machines by Schiffer Publishing as it shows many trade stimulators in color photos. You can get it from most antique book dealers at shows and malls.

Q. - I bought some coin operated machines several years ago, and am trying to determine their value for insurance purposes. One is a 1› BASEBALL with a flick lever and steel balls. The other is a strength machine you twist or pull with Disney characters on the dial, although they may not be original. Can you give me an ideas as to date of machines and value? V. H., Manistee, MI.
A. - You ask for the insurance value of your two machines. You should know that is different than retail value, or a selling price. It's tricky. If you want to sell a machine, you can get the wholesale price, half of retail, fairly easily. If you're buying, you generally have to pay full retail. It is difficult to sell at full retail as you have to assure the buyer that the machine is original, is working and is backed by a dealer. But insurance value is what an insurance company has to pay to replace a machine right away, so it is usually higher than either wholesale or retail. So the prices I will give are insurance values as you asked. Figure one-third less for retail, and half of retail if you are selling.
Your machines are the Gottlieb MINIATURE BASEBALL of 1930 and the Mercury Steel (later Great Lakes System) DELUXE ATHLETIC SCALE of 1947, with insurance values $650 and $275 respectively.


(c) Richard M. Bueschel, 1995