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Mills Bell O Matic questions

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2019 8:27 pm
by kvgc-m
Hi all,

I know this may seem very obvious to you all but I have a Mills Bell O Matic machine that has been in my family generations. I am considering selling it. What would be the best way to go about it and is there any information you can give me about this style of machine?

This is the machine I am currently in possession of:

Re: Mills Bell o Matic Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2019 8:59 pm
by treefrog
Hello there,

As you say, it is made by Mills Bell-O-matic and is a Hi Top made from late 50’s.....not sure what other info you need, but having back door makes a difference and cannot see and of course working condition.

Selling in online sites like eBay and Gumtree (owned by eBay) can be a pain without a license obtainable for a single machine at £25 a go or go to auction. Any auction house or even better collectors ones like November Coventry auction or Elephant House....or place an advert on this site except of course you need to know value, which is subjective.

Looks nice and original, but not sure reels strips are right with 7’s and Melons on

Re: Mills Bell o Matic Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:09 pm
by kvgc-m
It does have the back, lock and key and cash box, yeah we think the wheels are wrong but it does still work perfectly well.

Do you have any idea where we may be able to get it valued?

Could you give me some details on the Coventry auction as I actually live in Birmingham!

Re: Mills Bell o Matic Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:28 pm
by treefrog
Coventry auction happens once a year most years and next one is last Sunday in November and is advertised on this site. Just do a search on here for more info.....

Trouble is value is subjective, but not seeing whole of machine from one picture, anywhere from £250 to £500 at a guess, but does need some work

When I talk about wrong reel strips, it is not that they are in wrong position, but do not match the award card, so is the mechanism correct or is it just incorrect strips would need to be assessed...

Re: Mills Bell o Matic Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:38 pm
by kvgc-m
Obviously I am no expert but it has worked for my entire life with these reels so I would assume the mechanism is correct, perhaps not the original one from this machine though, as I do know my grandfather had more than one of these and he may have changed parts around.

Re: Mills Bell o Matic Questions

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2019 8:07 am
by coppinpr
As tf says, it all looks good and original. What he means about the reel strips is not so much the wrong strips affecting the price but rather do the payouts on the award card agree with the actual payouts? The strips themselves being wrong is an easy fix. If the wrong strips indicate an incorrect mech and the payouts are wrong, then it would affect the price.

Re: Mills Bell o Matic Questions

Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2019 12:54 pm
by kvgc-m
I believe the payout is correct but I'm not sure how would I check this? As I said, I am no expert.

Re: Mills Bell O Matic questions

Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2019 1:14 pm
by treefrog
I wouldn’t worry about it if it works, I was only making an observation and not a major one. If you did sell, buyer if they chose could sort out !!THUMBSX2!!

Re: Mills Bell o Matic Questions

Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2019 11:37 am
by chris rideout
treefrog wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 8:59 pm Looks nice and original, but not sure reels strips are right with 7’s and Melons on
Those reels might have come out of a Mills EJ triple 7. In fact, the whole reel mechanism could have come from another Mills machine. First reel shows a melon on the payline but the award card does not appear to show 3 melons. Did the 7-7-7 pay a special award token? There's no mention about that on the award card either.