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 Since the prices are out of date and many of the dealers/collectors may no longer be collecting the machine we have purposely left this information out of the web version.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


Recommended Book For Beginning Coin-Op Collectors
By Dick Bueschel

The question I get asked the most is, "If I want to become a collector of old coin machines, what book should I buy to tell me how to go about it?" Up until now I have sort of stumbled over the answer. There are a lot of good books on the subject, but all are for the semi-initiated and assume some level of sophistication about the subject. For the advanced collectors they are wonderful, but for the beginners they are sometimes scary.
Entry level questions are a lot different than advanced collector questions. If you have been a coin-op collector for some time you most likely want to know the name of a machine, its condition, the level of restoration and how many still exist. To the beginner that's all way ahead of them. They want to know "What kind of machine should I buy, what will it cost me, how do I know it's real and not a repro, and what do I do if it stops working?" These two positions are world's apart. Or at least they have been, until now.
I have to back up a bit. It was a little over three years ago that my buddy Jack Kelly of St. Joseph, Michigan, asked me why I didn't have a column about coin machines in one of the leading antique publications. His point was that he was always asking me questions, and I seemed to know the answers, and that there were probably a lot of people like him that would be interested in coin machine history, trivia and antique information. Jack suggested that I contact Tom Hoepf at Antique Week and propose such a column. I did, and Tom jumped at the idea. Tom's view was that he didn't know what I was going to say in the column, but nobody else was saying it for any other publication, so why shouldn't Antique Week. The first task was to come up with a column name and a graphic device. I struggled over that for a while, and Tom came back with, "One of those old slot machine wood cut pictures you sent us a while back looks good, and how about something as simple as Coin Machines?" That did it, and the column was born.
From the very beginning I regarded the platform as an entry level stage, offering an opportunity to reveal the joys and rewards of vintage coin machine collecting of all kinds, from slots to vending, scales to jukeboxes, arcade, trade stimulator and pinball, and everything else between and beyond, slanted toward new collectors that might have more than a passing interest in the subject. It was a new approach to the hobby, and one that was needed. I may waiver from the primer mode once in a while, going off on specialized subjects and machines now and again, but by and large we get back to the mainstream of how to begin and progress with a collection of antique coin machines, literally old and fairly new.
I also keep a file of the columns to be sure that I don't spend a lot of time repeating myself, the death knell of any continuing writing activity. I've tried hard not to be redundant, and in the main we have been able to keep things going with fresh material for every column. But there was always a somewhat sad note to the fact that what I said a year or two ago couldn't be shared with readers who just joined the Antique Week fold, or didn't catch the column until a later date. The question remained: what to do about interesting information that had already been covered?
It was about that time that I was approached to do a book for Schiffer Publishing. Company president Peter Schiffer (and wife Nancy) probed me for suggested titles and content, and the more we talked about it the more we came back to the basic entry level philosophy of this column about Coin Machines. So what about that as a title, asked Peter, adding "Collector's Guide To Vintage" I flew half a dozen columns past Peter, with additional content that I wanted to add, as well as a section on "Resources," or where to find things to keep machines in trim or learn more about them, something that has rarely appeared in this or any column. Peter's reply was, "Great! But I need hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of color pictures, because color is what we do best." The result was 678 different color photos of all forms of coin machines, with deep captions telling about their history, when made and by whom, and some notes about their mechanical appeal, desirability and collectibility. If I thought putting a book like this together was going to be easy because the columns had already been written I was sure in for a shock. Those of you who have written books about antiques and collectibles, and have worked out price guides to accompany them, know what I mean. You think you have all the material, but you quickly learn that there are additional research and writing requirements that don't quickly meet the eye, and that accurate and viable pricing needs a wide variety of sourcing before you can even come close to current market values.
But the job is all finished now, and the book came out on May 16 to a market that has been waiting for something along these lines for a long time. It is a survey course in coin machine history, collectibility, and the machines themselves. It promises to be the primer of the hobby, for beginner and expert alike. Its heritage is the columns from Antique Week, plus two or three times more copy about the machines and their collectibility, plus all those color pictures. 192 pages of them.
If I were asked what book to get as a coin machine collector, I'd ask some questions about the area of collectibility, be it arcade, vending machine or generic. If it was specific, I would suggest any number of books about that subject and the particular machines involved. But if the question was from someone who wanted to know how to go about collecting all kinds of vintage coin machines, where they came from and when, and what kinds of machines can be found, be they jukeboxes or slots or pinballs or whatever, I'd recommend this book: Collector's Guide To Vintage Coin Machines, by Richard M. Bueschel. You can get it at antique malls, at shows and in bookstores everywhere. But if you can't readily find it you can also get it direct from the publisher: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 77 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310, cost $39.95 plus $2.95 packing and shipping.
I also take a particular pleasure in recommending this book: it's mine.


Q. - I am a new collector. How do I locate machines without paying premium dollar at an auction or shop? I heard in Antique Week I should pay 50% of retail. Therefore, where do I find a complete price guide, or how can wholesale/retail value be determined. The books I have are Warman's Antiques, Scale 1 guide to coin-operated scales, Trade 1 guide to trade stimulators, Slot Machines & Coin-Op Games, and Arcade 1 guide to arcade machines. S. Z., Milford, OH.
A. - You probably missed some of my earlier columns in which I tell how to find machines at reasonable prices. It isn't easy; it's hard work. I use the "Three As," Auctions, Advertise and Activity. Local farm auctions are very good because you often do not have competition, or at least it isn't very strong. And if you hit enough antique shops you'll find bargains, but low prices also generally mean poor condition. The most successful way is to advertise in rural newspapers, and just talk to people. You'll be amazed how many leads pop up that way.
You state that you "heard in Antique Week" that you should pay 50% of retail. That's not the case. I have said that if you are selling to can expect to get 50% of retail from a dealer who has to fix up the machine and market it for resale. There's a difference. When you're buying you can expect to pay what the market is asking. As for a complete price guide, there is no such thing, and if there were I probably wouldn't have this column. Prices are based on what dealers are paying or selling for, and they fluctuate so rapidly it is difficult to put in print. You list the books you now have. Two of them, Arcade 1 and Trade 1, both written by me, have prices and are a fairly good guide for both buying and selling. So is my new Schiffer book Collector's Guide To Vintage Coin Machines, which also covers how to find machines. But I am a bit confused. You also say you have Scale 1 guide to Coin Operated Scales in your collection of books. I wrote that book, and it's a beaut. Except for one problem. It's in a box all set to go but I haven't found a publisher for it yet, so it remains a manuscript in my hands, unpublished.

Q. - My interest is in gumball machines. Do you handle replacement parts, decals, etc., or can you provide me with the addresses of people who do? G. K., Sandwich, IL.
A. - If you are seriously interested in gumball machines it might be advisable to subscribe to some of the coin machine collector publications. One I can recommend that has fairly good vending and gumball coverage is Coin-Op Classics, 17844 Toiyabe Street, Fountain Valley, CA 92708, tel. 714-756-8746. In looking through a recent issue of Coin-Op Classics, I found the following collectors and dealers that have or handle replacement parts, decals, etc.
1. Kaps Vending, 593 Lavina Country Club, Heme, CA 92544, tel. 909-658-4620.
2. Don Reedy, 13 S. Carroll Street, Frederick, MD 21701.
3. Barbara Larks, 8444 N. Lawndale, Skokie, Il 60076, tel. 708-679-4765 or 679-4785.
You might try the Chicagoland Show held at Pheasant Run in St. Charles, Illinois, in the spring and fall. Call Steve Gronowski at 708-381-1234 for dates and details. Also, my new Schiffer book Collector's Guide To Vintage Coin Machines has a whole chapter on "Resources" and lists about a hundred dealers and restorers that handle just about everything for all types of coin machines.

Q. - These two coin machines have come into my possession. The Bally HOT ROD takes dimes, and the "Kickball" players have real knit sweaters. Could you provide me with any history or information about these items? R. G., Lignier, PA.
A. - Your Bally HOT-ROD was first produced in July 1955 as a "Kiddie Ride." Bally wasn't making slot machines yet (that wasn't until 1964) and supermarkets were popping up all over the place to create a market for coin-op rides. It came with or without a 12-record sound effects audio system. By 1957 it was being made as the MODEL T HOT-ROD, so yours is a 1955-1956 model. The problem with many of these rides was the fact they were usually placed outdoors, and got rusty, as yours has.
Your other machine is a valuable game. It is the Chester-Pollard PLAY FOOTBALL, the British name for soccer. Chester-Pollard was a New York company that made British machines under license. PLAY FOOTBALL was first produced in 1926 and sold through the early 1930s. A nice touch on your machine is the original NRA sticker, dating it at 1933. The condition of your machine seems excellent, although it is missing the top marquee, an elaborate sign that said PLAY FOOTBALL.

(c) Richard M. Bueschel, 1995