Now that's what I call a slot machine!

[john t peterson]

It sold for $210,000 USD plus 10% buyer's premium and 7% sales tax.

[badpenny]

What did John?

Just been going back over my unreads

[gameswat]

Most probably a Caille Roulette from guess and memory?

[jonesthegarage]

John's obviously asleep in the colonies at the moment but somewhere I did notice a similarly priced machine in Miami last week, I think it was a coin operated banjo in a cabinet or something similar - I didn't pay too much attention being currently around $210,000 short of $210,000. No doubt we will get pic or link later.

[john t peterson]

Let me state as clearly as I can: I have no idea what I was referring to in the posting above.

J Peterson
Sleepless in Bristol

[youngerap]

Yeaaaaa! I am not the only one going seni.....ummm.... what was I talking about? Where on Earth are my clothes?

[gameswat]

Found this on the site:
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
25 cent machine sells for $210,000
A 25 Cent Caille Roulette Gambling Slot Machine sold for $210,000 plus 10% buyer's premium and 7% sales tax at the Las Vegas Victorian Casino Antique Auction last weekend - surely a new record in the world of slot machine collecting.

[badpenny]

Strewth! ...... and no mistake.
Not only a photographer but a sleuth to boot.

Thank you.
BP

[jingle]

Rumours has it
Copperfield paid 2 and a half million for the
Rare talking fortune teller
Now that must be the record
If its true

[badpenny]

Being that old, it must have used a record but I hope he got more than just that for his money

[jingle]

I heard it had some kind of
Polyphon in
Or musical type of cylinder
In the bottom
Don't think it was a record tho
But do wonder how the words were
Manufactured

[badpenny]

Most likely a wax cylinder Bob.

I understand the old speak your weight machines used a record which utilised a complicated array of levers and cables to drop the needle onto the right portion of the record.
How complicated must that have been? Not to mention as robust as the gear change on a modern van!

Incidentally I read they were only a fad and quickly fell out of favour as women wouldn't use them as it broadcast their weight for all to hear.

[slotalot]

If Copperfield has got it I think it will all be done with smoke and mirrors

[gameswat]

I understand the old speak your weight machines used a record which utilised a complicated array of levers and cables to drop the needle onto the right portion of the record.

Not the 1904 talking scale I own, it's very simple. Instead of a lever moving the dial via gears as almost every scale utilises, there is just the same lever but attached to a pickup and needle, which can move freely up and down within a slot cut out of the record which sits vertically. When calibrated correctly the needle will find the correct groove to play for one revolution. There is a separate groove for every second weight from 2 lbs to 250 lbs. And the power to run each revolution is provided by the user who has to pull down a lever to re-tension a spring every play. Even though my machine had sat untouched for at least 40 or 50 years minimum, it only took a few hours of tinkering to have the mech running on a coin again. Sadly no sound though as missing the pickup.

[jonesthegarage]

The last time I got on a speak your weight machine, I dropped the coin and the machine said "one at a time please".

[operator bell]

Gameswat called it correctly. I was at that auction in 2008. The Roulette was purchased by a local dealer, so he would not have had to pay the sales tax. There's more to this story - I believe the customer that the dealer thought he had lined up didn't come through - but I forget the details now. I know the machine has been auctioned again since, and fetched a considerably lower price.

This was the star item at the auction and was being watched with a great deal of excitement and anticipation both locally and on line. Unfortunately, the internet connection to the sales room dropped a few minutes before this item came up, cutting off all the online bidders, and was restored a minute after the hammer came down. Probably just a coincidence. Move along, nothing to see here.