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Posted: **Thu May 31, 2012 12:04 pm**

Hi,

Mark is my name, I am new to coin operated hobbies. My father was a poker machine mechanic for many years at the local club of which I can recall spending many early mornings in the club before it opened playing with the machines and counting money into trays.

While cleaning my dad's estate in the country 40 mins south of Tamworth, N.S.W., I found two old poker machines next to a chook shed. When I started to move the "Australia" poker machine a big rat jumped out of the back then stopped, looked at me and then ran off into some hay. Not sure what the rat was thinking but "I guess rats love Pokies too!"

I have such wonderful memories playing with them at home when I was a kid.
I am planning to restore them and put them into my games room. The experience has sparked my interest in Antique coin machines so I am on the look out for more.

A member "BadPenny" suggested I share some images on this site, so here they are.

Sorry about the size, I keep it big so you can read it.........Enjoy.

More images can be found at http://mobilise.net/pokie/pokie18xx.html
Will have to send images once they are restored.

Mark.

Posted: **Thu May 31, 2012 12:30 pm**

Mark, Hi.
Glad you found the site and what a great first post.
Welcome aboard, am sure you'll be welcomed by 'tothers,,,, when they get up

,,, (watch out for 3AM PMs from that BP chap tho').

Posted: **Thu May 31, 2012 2:47 pm**

Hi koolego.... ace looking machine you got there. Bet that will look fantastic when you get it restored. Good luck with the restoration!

Posted: **Thu May 31, 2012 5:11 pm**

Hi koolego .......

Glad you found us, been waiting for you to turn up since we bumped into each other in Americaland.

Lovely photo'mapictures.
Welcome to the most helpful and friendly site for slotties this side of the map.

Badpenny

Posted: **Fri Jun 01, 2012 4:01 am**

Quote: "I guess rats love pokies too,,, I have wonderful memories of playing with them as a kid"

Wot?
And they never bit you mate?

Posted: **Fri Jun 01, 2012 9:57 pm**

8-)

That's playing with the pokies and not the rats... Not sure playing with rats would be fun.

Posted: **Mon Mar 25, 2019 10:22 am**

Topic moved & merged - Site Admin.

Would anyone have any idea what year this machine was released and if it was made in Australia or imported? Many thanks

Posted: **Mon Mar 25, 2019 11:00 am**

Cam, you need to post a photo or two as the name might have been added later, who knows without seeing what it actually is?

Posted: **Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:26 am**

They certainly need some work.

Posted: **Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:52 am**

I will be the wrong person to respond on these, but my untrained says these look like some rare old early cast machines and to have a pair of them.

Can’t believe they are Nutt and Muddle who made poker machines from the 1950s.... These look half a century earlier. Is the name written somewhere? I would have guess these are from the US possibly... For some reason, in the back of my head I have seen one of these before.... You could be sitting on a gold mine there. I assume you are in Aus?

Posted: **Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:54 am**

These are definitely Aust made, though copied from earlier US machines. This was written about them by Bob in an earlier thread on Aust made machines. Though he doesn't mention that they also turn up in cast alloy cases as well. Australian manufactured coin op machines. I'd guess that Nutt and Muddle purchased them during the 1950s to operate or resell themselves, as machines of any kind were rare and impossible to import because of post wartime trade restrictions that ran a long time.

bob wrote: ↑Mon Jun 11, 2018 8:19 amThis trade stimulator gambling machine was made by a Sydney game manufacturer A.O. Buchanan of whom not much is known. Copied from and looking like a machine from the 1800s, it was made by Buchanan in 1937. Some were chrome plated as this one was; others were copper plated with a Florentine Bronze finish. It was a copy of the Little Duke, a trade stimulator that was the third machine made by Mills of Chicago in 1898. A version without the curved edges was made by the American Royal Novelty Company as the Royal Trader and then by Mills Novelty Company as the Mills Trader in 1904. The Australian machine simplified the betting variations into a more basic version by adding the name “The Australia” to the casting where the various gaming options were illustrated and relevant coin entries were on the original machines. Interestingly enough, the lovely designs for the cabinets for all these machines were taken from those used by the Chicago Cash Register Company on their cash registers in the early-mid 1890s, most likely a case of the designer recycling earlier successful designs of his or hers.

Posted: **Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:59 am**

Knew I had seen these. Below* is a thread of another guy who found two in a shed.... Unfortunately, someone removed some of the pictures, except one of a top marquee. Don’t look the same machines as plated.
*Now merged above - Site Admin.

Nice find.

Posted: **Tue Mar 26, 2019 3:17 pm**

Cam I forgot to mention rarity. These are by far the most common trade stimulator to turn up in Aust, made here or imported. I've never kept count, but I've probably seen at least 20 turn up and they keep being found every few years. Which for any machine in Australia is a huge survival rate! They must've copied a lot of them for so many to survive. And probably helped that they looked so old fashioned even when new, so maybe people saved them as they thought they were already well on the way to antique? In his book "Vintage Trade Stimulators & Counter Games" author Dick Bueschel states "Buchanan made the games off and on until new poker machines were made in Aust after WW2".

Posted: **Wed Mar 27, 2019 1:12 pm**

As Gameswat writes, these machines turn up regularly in Australia. One has turned up recently here in Victoria in quite good condition with playing cards for symbols. Some were beautifully plated in a Florentine Bronze finish.
I'll attach a couple of photos of a Chicago Cash Register Company's cash register with the original design later used on the American and Australian trade stimulators which I noticed in the book The Incorruptible Cashier by Richard L Crandall and Sam Robins.
I think I was lucky to spot the design similarity to the coin op machines from the photo in the book. Probably because I had an "The Australia" that I walked past at least half a dozen times every day.

Posted: **Wed Mar 27, 2019 3:15 pm**

I'm confused - the castings on the cash register look so different from the Australia. Were there models?

Lot 58

Posted: **Wed Mar 27, 2019 3:57 pm**

I am not suggesting that they are exactly the same designs, but to me they seem to be the work of the same designer and are a reworking of material that he or she has previously used on the cash registers. Other people may not agree.

Posted: **Wed Mar 27, 2019 4:02 pm**

Here's a Chicago Cash Register with similar castings.

Posted: **Wed Mar 27, 2019 4:03 pm**

PM, this might help you see it. Though cash register is hard to spot the cherubs at the base. They look identical to me, and this Aust casting is a second generation copy at least! Nicely spotted Bob.

Posted: **Fri Mar 29, 2019 11:33 pm**

Thanks so much for replying bob, gameswat and treefrog - you guys are a wealth of knowledge. The reason I know of a definite Nutt and Muddle relationship with these machines is that both the Nutt and Muddle families came into my Dad's service station (and Grandfather before that) in Sydney. I vividly remember a pile of these old machines and other models piled up on the lower floor of the garage building. Unfortunately the building has long been demolished. I intend approaching the National Museum of Australia to see if they are interested in restoring and displaying one or both machines if they are donated. Thanks again.

Posted: **Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:59 pm**

I've added the information from this topic to the Arena Pokies piece, plus various snippets gleaned about Apex Amusement Co. Pty. Ltd., Ace-Hi Amusement Co. Pty Ltd. (Vic Walker Mfg. Co.) and Australian Engineers Metal Stampers Pty. Ltd.

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Buchanan 'The Australia' identified

Buchanan 'The Australia' identified

Re: Found next to a chook shed - The Australia

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