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Saw this recently, lovely condition. Takes me back to my 1950s childhood and I can well remember the feeling of the ripples of those buttons as they made waves on my hand !!

Anyone know when this type of machine was introduced ?

Carters book lists a 'Scientific Electric Palmist' under Charles Ahrens, and dates it 1922. I guess this is probably the machine to which it refers. I operate a similar machine at Brighton, and know of three others. I'm sure there are more - but still a fairly rare machine.

Carter's book also lists Ahrens Electric Palmistry of 1921 and the Arnold & Sons Know Thyself (1928?) suggesting there was no patent on the idea. Ahrens (who mostly adapted other manufacturers' designs) didn't file a patent for this quite novel bit of mechanism, so it seems probable versions existed before 1921. I had a go on Clive's Scientific Electric Palmist at his old Southampton arcade when an old fellow confided in conspiratorial tone his suspicion that it wasn't entirely scientific.

I spoke to Clive last night and apart from confirming that the machine above is the one I played at Southampton, he offered other snippets: Ahrens made two versions - the other didn't have the "beer-glass resistant" sloping front panel and quite different gubbins inside. He wasn't sure which was earlier. He mentioned a purely mechanical American palmist which pre-dated this one - suggesting the palm-massaging pins idea came from the States.
Arnold's Know Thyself is altogether simpler - just a palm-shaped casting that you have to push and turn slightly to release the fortune card.
The Electric Palmist is currently available for personal readings at Swindon Steam Museum.

pennymachines wrote: ↑Wed Mar 19, 2008 2:26 pmthe machine above is the one I played at Southampton

So was the Bollands Haunted House that I posted on Dec 6th 2007 and the Merchantman crane that I posted on Dec 18th 2007 also in the old Southampton arcade?

Both now in the Steam Museum at Swindon.

Quite likely. It was ages ago and my memory's been defragged and reformatted since then. Clive would know.
I remember there was an Ahrens Piledriver because it was the first I'd played or seen.

JC wrote: ↑Fri Mar 07, 2008 5:45 pmCarters book lists a 'Scientific Electric Palmist' under Charles Ahrens, and dates it 1922. I guess this is probably the machine to which it refers. I operate a similar machine at Brighton, and know of three others. I'm sure there are more - but still a fairly rare machine.

Hi JC, I was in Weston Supermare last week and paid a visit to the North Somerset Museum. They have a small collection of vintage slots, one of which is an Ahrens Palmist. Is this one of the three that you know of? The other machines are working models, a mutoscope, a two player (Ahrens?) football game, and a strength tester but no allwins. slotalot.

Hello Slotalot. No, that is not one of the five that I know of - so that makes six (but I'm sure there are others).
I've only visited Weston Supermare once, about six years ago, and didn't know of the North Summerset Museum at that time. What are the working models? And most important - did you take any pictures? I'm sure we'd all like to see them.

In answer to Arrgee above, I'm fairly sure the Haunted house wasn't at Clive's Ocean Village arcade in Southampton (which closed about ten years ago) - I think it is a more recent acquisition. I do remember a Bolland Burglar, and I'm sure there was at least one other Bolland model.

Jerry

Hi JC, The working models were an American Execution and a Haunted House , I am not sure of the make of the haunted house but it was a good one, it had a moving figure sat in a chair on the ground floor and a balcony above with two doors that fly open to show two phanton/ghost figures , it also had sound/flashing lights etc. As for photos, we only found this museum when trying to get out of the rain, I did not know they had any machines before we went in and I did not have my camera with me ,I must invest in a new camera that will fit in my jacket pocket so as not to miss times like this. Slotalot.

The Automatic Palm Reader at Mablethorpe posted by Stoxman22 is the Arnold version.



Below is the top of an unidentified American Automatic Palm Reader which may pre-date the British versions.
Photo: Lynette Seelmeyer

So how much is a Automatic Palm Reader worth........must be a fortune as a top marque for one sold today for £1010....

Similar to machine above.

Only thing I cannot work out, if you look closely, there are four screw holes in the corners, which would not be needed in an enamel sign fitted in a frame, so did this start in this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Palm-Reader- ... fresh=true

I only found this on ebay with 8 hours to go. By then it was £380, which I thought was ok, bearing in mind the cost to reproduce one properly. I too was surprised at what it finished at. So there was more than one person desperate to own it!
I can only assume that the winning bidder owns a machine and wanted an original top marque for it. Otherwise it's an expensive wall decoration. No idea re the screw holes.

I'm pretty sure the marquee on that Ahrens Automatic Palmistry is correct. You see that style of top on many different Ahrens arcade pieces, like the Pile Driver, Marksman Shooter, Marathon Cycle Race, Jolly Fireman Racer and others.



The expensive ebay marquee is from an Arnold Automatic Palm Reader

pennymachines wrote: ↑Fri Aug 08, 2008 5:37 pm Below is the top of an unidentified American Automatic Palm Reader which may pre-date the British versions.

Having studied these things a little more since I wrote that, I can now identify the American Palm reader on the previous page as a Marvin & Casler Co. Palm Reader. There's one in the next Morphy auction:

This historic arcade machine was manufactured in 1905 by Marvin and Casler Co. of New York and is a very interesting coin-operated machine. By pulling the handle with the left hand, patron must place right hand on the flat surface. The interior mechanism rises to equal level, reading their fortune, which is then dispensed below. The large wooden cabinet is made of oak with a rich finish, accentuating the brass and nickel-plated features. The top façade is a mirror with a glass door. This machine has been completely restored and is in beautiful condition. With keys. This is not a standard shippable item and will require 3rd party shipping or pickup arrangements to be made.Keys: Yes Condition (Restored). Dimensions 31" x 27" x 73 - 1/2".

Astonishingly, this all mechanical machine determines which card stack to dispense from by actually 'reading' the palm! No doubt Charles Ahrens got his idea of the palm-tickling pins from this.

pennymachines wrote:I'm pretty sure the marquee on that Ahrens Automatic Palmistry is correct.

I bow to superior knowledge Mr PM.

Those holes shouldn’t be there though, like it was wall mounted at some point...

treefrog wrote: ↑Wed Oct 23, 2019 2:42 pm Those holes shouldn’t be there though, like it was wall mounted at some point...

But if you look at the earlier Arnold machine photo Tree it appears on the lower enamel sign to have the same screws in the corners plus a couple in the middle of the sign as it's much taller than the marquee.

The marque is definitely from an Arnold palmist. Its dimensions fit exactly, although the cast iron supports do not belong. I was alerted to the e-bay item by Bryans fan a few hours before it finished and did consider bidding. The machine shown earlier at Mablethorpe has both top and main enamels replaced with cards. If you compare you can see the difference.

Treefrog asks what value the machine? The answer is of course what someone would pay. The only one with an original enamel was sold in the John Carter sale in 1999 for just over £3000 and I bought it. Would have liked the top as I did not know until now it ever had one, but on examining the top of my machine I now see the screw holes! I can get one made for about £4/500 and may now do so. The interesting thing about this machine is that it works on the left hand. I have added a picture of my machine. The cabinet was re-glued and polished but complete and working when bought.

sweetmeats wrote: ↑Thu Oct 24, 2019 4:27 pmThe interesting thing about this machine is that it works on the left hand.

I see that the coin slot on the right, sweetmeats, so it would be natural to first place your left hand down and then put the coin in with your right hand.

So it would appear that Arnold went to an enamel sign company to make these signs and they accidently added in the holes since 99% of wall mount signs used them. I've had this happen myself enough times that I can totally see it happening. The reason I became a restorer is because of those endless muck ups in the early days. And in the course of repairing those mess ups I found it wasn't rocket science after all! (The usual response when I pointed out how they hadn't done what I'd implicitly asked for was: "Well the guy did it the modern way that everybody wants and is better than the old fashioned way anyway").