The Oliver Whales Story

Britain's only vintage coin-op magazine.
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badpenny
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Re: The Oliver Whales Story

Post by badpenny »

Stuart, your ability to unearth relevant and interesting .....nay, fascinating! ..... pearls of wisdom belittles me.
I see it says he makes bonnetts (should that be bonnets?), if he'd make me one I'd take it off to you.
!WORSHIPFULL!
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arrgee
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Re: The Oliver Whales Story

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Nice work Stuart.

Put in a bid for it BP, when you get Andy's Middlehurst Coronet it will look very nice sat on that.
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badpenny
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Re: The Oliver Whales Story

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Cunning old Stuart has cunningly kept discreet with discreetness about how it is for sale the discreetly cunning old beast that he is.

I've heard that Australialand can be quite big depending on the tide. So it might be the other side of the valley from Andy.

I've just searched on Google and all I could find was this picture entitled Native of Australia .......

a.aaa-Lazy-Kangaroo.jpg
a.aaa-Lazy-Kangaroo.jpg (186.87 KiB) Viewed 13709 times

.... which quite frankly was a shock as my cousin Natalie married one back in the 70s.
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Re: The Oliver Whales Story

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!WORSHIPFULL! Sir Slotalot
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john t peterson
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Re: The Oliver Whales Story

Post by john t peterson »

It might be a good time to make an Australian purchase... Gameswat is in the US!

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gameswat
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Re: The Oliver Whales Story

Post by gameswat »

And I'm doing a lot better here than I would be back in Oz John. :D
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Re: The Oliver Whales Story

Post by andydotp »

That's a remarkable find - here in Australia of all places..
A few Ollie Allwins on top would indeed make a lovely sight.
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badpenny
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Re: The Oliver Whales Story

Post by badpenny »

andydotp wrote:That's a remarkable find - here in Australia of all places..
A few Ollie Allwins on top would indeed make a lovely sight.
The executive team have convened and you are hereby instructed to purchase the said item on behalf of The Hobby.
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Help to ID this Whales tradeshow photo

Post by coppinpr »

Topic moved &merged - Site Admin.

Can anyone answer a couple of questions about this photo? It was originally identified as a 1950s photo of an Oliver Whales trade stand. I'm guessing Oliver had something to do with it, for obvious reasons, but the company is shown as "London", a long way from Redcar. A joint venture perhaps? Also, I'm sure the date is wrong - the machines look earlier than '50s and the stand next door is "Shefras & Sons", but I don't think that name was used after the war, so I was thinking before the war? (or just after 46-49 perhaps).

Candy floss and wafers at 6d sounds expensive before the war (although ice cream cones were indeed 3d in the 1930s), so the '40s might make sense. !PUZZLED! The original term "Fairy Floss" for candy floss had all but died out in the UK by 1935 (it remains in Australia and New Zealand I believe).
Then there is that big machine in the foreground. At first glance I thought a moving arm win-a-gift type machine, but closer inspection reveals the name "The train test". Anyone heard of it?
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brigham
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Re: help to ID this photo

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The bloke on the left has a superficial resemblance to Oliver Whales...
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arrgee
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Re: help to ID this photo

Post by arrgee »

I am thinking late 40s to early 1950s purely on the basis of the large perspex dome on the hexagonal machine to the right. My understanding is that perspex, having been invented in the early 1930s was first used for aircraft canopies during the war. So allowing for the war years plus a few post war years to get the amusement industry back on its feet, leads me to think of the late 40s early 50s, purely circumspect but 50s just seems about right to me. :!?!:
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Re: The Oliver Whales Story

Post by pennymachines »

I have moved and merged coppinpr's post about this photograph to the topic in which it was originally discovered and posted by forum member Terry in 2012.
slotalot wrote: Thu Feb 16, 2012 5:11 pm ...I have been checking the London phone books for Whales & White. The only listing I could find was for 1950. They were listed as Whales & White, Automatic Machines, 17 Lower Marsh, London SE1. By 1952, they were not listed at all, and I could not find them listed prior to 1950, but some of the pre 1950 directories were not complete... But it looks as if it was a short lived partnership, but then Oliver had many deals going with many people over the years.
slotalot wrote: Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:49 pm I have done a quick search on your photographer. His full name was Walter A. Lee, and he worked from home, and the full address was No.73, Comyn Road, SW11.
slotalot wrote: Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:15 am ...I am 99% certain that this was a partnership between The White advertising company, of Midland Bank Chambers, Warwick Road, Birmingham 27, and Whales of Redcar, and if you study the photo you will see that they are selling slot machines & advertising boards etc. White Advertising was run by Harry Bertram White and his brother... I have also found out that the White brothers split up a few years after this photo was taken, and Harry went on to run the Master Vending Machine Company, which subsequently went into receivership in 1959.
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brigham
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Re: The Oliver Whales Story

Post by brigham »

"... Harry went on to run the Master Vending Machine Company, which subsequently went into receivership in 1959...."
...after making a shit football-themed Allwin with no payout and a bubble-gum vendor coin-mech.
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Re: The Oliver Whales Story

Post by treefrog »

Ha ha, that’s so true, they definitely should exist in the “Bottom” list of machines. I also suspect this machine has to win an award for the most over paid machine, with the one that sold at Christies in 2001 for £2350, according to the Bank of England inflation calculator that is an incredible £3915 :HaHa: I thought the one on eBay at £500 was bad enough.

https://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot ... ID=3047893
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badpenny
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Re: The Oliver Whales Story

Post by badpenny »

I remember selling you one Tom at some point, somewhere ...
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