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 Since the prices are out of date and many of the dealers/collectors may no longer be collecting the machine we have purposely left this information out of the web version.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

Trade Stimulators And Counter Games
By Dick Bueschel

A column about any form of antiques is a function of its received mail. Nope, the mail doesn't do the work. But the readers pose the questions, and it's up to the columnist to reply. That's the only way that the collective readers' wills can be served. Quite simply, whatcha wanna know? What's important to you? What do you have, and do you want to sell, or buy?
That's an interesting point. No, I'm not writing this treatise because the well is running dry. Far from it. If my mail is any indication, interest in coin machines is booming, and I have enough questions with photos to keep this effort alive for 6 or 7 more months. It's just that I think there's more out there in the communal question pool. I'd say 90% of my mail concerns a machine or two, asking age, some facts, and "what's it worth?" That latter question is probably a clue. Is the writer trying to sell the machine, get an insurance appraisal, or just curious? I'd like you to tell me if you feel comfortable doing so. It really doesn't matter because whatever the reason the question is asked, I'll always try to give a reasonable retail value and note that if you are selling your machine you should expect to get about half of the shop value listed.
I bring it up because I have learned that some readers are offering machines with problems to possible buyers at the full retail price, and are quoting me as the pricing source. Not fair, guys. And not accurate. All I can say is, I write every answer I give, both to the person asking the question (if they provide an S.A.S.E.) and in the column. So if someone quotes me in a pricing situation and seems to be highballing it, and you're interested in buying the machine, ask to see my quote. I'm glad to provide data and pricing information in print to anyone, asking only that I not be misquoted. So ask to see where they came up with my price; it's written. Somewhere.
On another subject, things often change rapidly in the field of vintage coin machines. For instance, in my last column on June 8 I said that presently 40 states allow slot machine collecting and that Delaware and Mississippi were among the no-nos. Not true anymore. In the middle of May Delaware went legal with a 25-year law, and now the word comes through that at the end of May Mississippi went the same way. So it's 42 states collectible, others to follow (we hope). It's an encouraging situation, and one that we'll follow as it changes.
Not all vintage coin machine collectors need the law on their side, because it already is. It's the payout slot machines, and the gambling machines, that have the legislators worried. That's not the case with all other classes of machines, such as scales, jukeboxes, vending machines, pinball games and arcade machines. These are the machines I am most often questioned about. All are highly collectible, and legal. The only one that has a smidgen of iffy about it is the renowned but not often seen trade stimulator and its later numerous offsprings, the 1920-1951 counter games. These were soft-core chance machines that didn't make physical cash payouts. But they did qualify the player for a reward (or "award," as was common in the vernacular) if they "won" the game. Their heyday was in the 1897-1920 period when stores needed an advantage over the competition. So the merchants put in cigar and merchandise machines that played on a penny or a nickel (some, such as the cigar counter or cigar store WIZARD CLOCK machines, played on a dime) in which you got a number that said "1" (which meant you got your nickel's worth) or "2" (which means you got twice the value for your penny) or even more. The store that had one on the counter had an advantage over the store that didn't. Later, in the 20s and 30s, counter games that featured the same fruit symbols as their larger slot machine cousins, or had other symbols or colored wheels and the like, carried on the tradition of getting more for your money, or at least as much (the latter solved by issuing a gumbal with each play in order to "give the player their money's worth"). All in all, while not hard gambling, they were on the fringe. So you have to assume that the slot machine collectible laws apply to these machines, or in states where such laws aren't on the books, the display and usage of such machines needs to be tested in court, so you are probably safe enough. Unless some officer of the law wants to run for election or something and hits on victimless crimes. But even
Due to their comparative rarity in relation to other forms of vintage coin-ops (which does not translate into increased value for some reason) these machines are those least mentioned in the letters received by this column. So we'll tackle a few answers for them. There is yet another area of vintage coin-op collecting that I haven't even touched on in past columns, yet it forms the bulk of my own personal collection. That's coin machine "paper," the advertising, promotional mailings, manuals, sales pieces and photographs of vintage coin-ops. In over 70 letters to date, only one has asked the question. So I'll answer it, too.
Q. - What kind of machine do I have, and who made it? I can't find it in any of the books. What's it worth? T.B., Athens, TN.
A. - Back in the late 1930s there was a trend toward clandestine slots and trade stimulators to get around the growing body of law against the machines, or at least fool the fuzz when they came into a joint to check. The two largest counter game makers, Groetchen and Daval, and a smaller producer named Bennett, made wooden cabinet poker and cigarette reel machines to make them look like the then newly fashionable small tabletop radios. Yours is the Daval SMOKE REELS introduced in the summer of 1938. Playing for a penny, if you got 3 alike you got a pack of cigarettes; 5 packs for 4 alike, and 10 packs for all alike. The latter was all but impossible, for many of the machines didn't have a full 5 on the reels, or sometimes the merchants blocked them out. Take a look at yours to see if it's playing with a full deck.
As for value, in fully prime mint condition these machines go for around $325 at retail. The problem is that they are often in terrible condition as the wooden cabinets were cheap and quickly degraded, particularly since these machines often ran throughout World War 2 as no new machines were available. So figure a value of around $175, and if you're selling, half that.
Q. - I have a machine called SWEET SIXTEEN with two dials with numbers. The dial is spun around when an inline switch is activated. Do you know something about it? F.S., Okeechobee, FL.
A. - Your SWEET 16 is interesting, but it isn't a coin-operated machine. What it appears to be is a tavern game, or maybe a carnival or Las Vegas Night piece, used for soft core gambling. My gut hunch is that it was made in the sixties. It isn't home made, because it is a very nice looking, professional job. But it ain't a coin-op, so I have no idea as to its value.
Q. - I'm interested in finding original advertisements for my slot machines so I can photocopy them and hang them in my game room. Maybe you can tell me what magazines ran these advertisements. S.G., Kew Gardens, NY.
A. - The idea of framing the original ads, manuals or promotional flyers for your slot machines behind the actual machines is terrific, and "advanced collectors" do that a lot. I say "advanced collectors" because the original paper is very valuable, particularly 4-color pieces for popular slots and jukeboxes. They mostly appeared in magazines called The Automatic Age and The Coin Machine Journal, but they are rare, with these 1930s and '40s magazines often selling for $35 and more per copy. And they wouldn't have any ads for your GOLDEN NUGGET as it is not a vintage machine, but a post-modern revamp of an earlier Mills "Half Top" whose identity has been lost in the transformation.
You can't just go out and buy these paper items as this kind of material needs to be "found." The most economical and efficient solution to the problem is to find reproduced pieces you can clip and frame, but even that is rare. I know of only a few present sources. My book Lemons, Cherries and Bell-Fruit-Gum reproduces over a hundred pages of original slot machine flyers, including the early escalator Bell machines circa 1931-1938 in their original size and colors. Marshall Fey's fine book Slot Machines, now in its fourth revised edition, reproduces a number of Mills and Jennings flyers in their original colors, although they tend to be reduced in size from the originals.
Finally, some of the vintage coin machine collector magazines often reproduce original flyers in color. Vintage jukebox flyers are often printed on the covers of Jukebox Collector, a monthly fanzine, $30 a year U.S., $36 in Canada and US$60 in Europe. Address is 2545 S.E. 60th Court, Des Moines, IA 50317-5099, tel.: 515-265-8324. Jukebox Collector also handles books which reproduce original colored flyers and promotional materials. Write or call Jukebox Collector for the prices.
Copyright Richard M. Bueschel, 1992