BMCo/Bolland's allwins identified

[greg]

Hi Everyone....I just bought an Allwin and I have no clue who made it, when it was made or what it was called. Also the play field looks wrong. Does anyone recognize it?

Ebay (USA) in the sold listings # 112348681174

Thanks GREG

[treefrog]

Looks alright to me, looks like a British made BMCo machine, 1930s ish.

Edited as only thing is maybe the backflash is missing either plastic or cloth as it looks like just board.

[greg]

Thanks Treefrog for the information. Do you, or anyone, have a picture of what the machine should look like. It looks like there is a piece of metal missing on the play field and around the payout handle.

[gameswat]

Edited as only thing is maybe the backflash is missing either plastic or cloth as ot looks like just board,

Tree, looks like it's the gold glitter plastic on this one.

[john t peterson]

Here's an example of what Gameswat refers to.

[badpenny]

Oh, how sad.

[gameswat]

I've restored a couple of these late '30s Deco style allwins by BMCO with the same glitter plastic posted by JP and liked it. Appeared to be original to both machines and definitely an earlier form of plastic pre WW2. Though in the case of the first machine shown above it could have been revamped to replace the usual felt?

[greg]

When the machine arrives next week I'll take a close up picture of the backflash and post it here. Did this machine have a model name like the later machines?

[greg]

The machine arrived safely yesterday. I took out the glass so the pictures would be a little clearer. The backflash looks a lot like the other backflash except mine is badly faded. In the corner where it didn't get much light you can see the true color.

The machine is in good shape but it still needs a lot of love to get it back to where it should be. When the seller said it was a penny machine, stupid me thought he meant the large British penny. He meant the tiny US penny. That explains the unusual coin entry slot. Does anyone have a source for a correct replacement?

The payout was also changed to the US penny but all he did was stuff a bunch of plastic in it so that should be an easy fix.

As you can see in the picture someone used one of those old label makers to mark the win holes. Does anyone have a close up picture of what they should look like?

Finally just over the key is round mark with two tiny holes were something was attached. Any idea what it would have been?

Thanks again for all your help....GREG

[pennymachines]

The coin slot probably looked like the one at top. BMCo often used that simple flat plate design, so your best bet might be to modify the one you have or cut a new one in brass and get it plated.

Have a look at the 'Win' and 'Coin Return' labels here.

There was probably a disk (maybe traffolyte ) above the lock showing the key number.

[john t peterson]

Good find, Greg. It looks to be in good shape with only the slight modification to the US penny. One of the major problems with that modification (other than the obvious molestation) is that the small US penny will most likely not be heavy enough to consistently trip the ball release lever. As you noted, removing the plastic shims inside the coin slide will return the mechanism to original.

I like the current backflash with the UV softening in the main play field. I would not mess with that were it mine. As Mr. PM noted, the coin entry plate should not be a significant challenge to recreate.

Well done on acquisition.

J Peterson
Contiguous State Collector

[coppinpr]

Topic merged - Site Admin.

Another question sent to the penny-arcade.info site, member would like to know what this is and its history... So would I Is it for real ? It looks old.

[treefrog]

You don’t recognise maker......you can tell at least from the coin return if anything...BMco......which model, will let someone into them answer....

Same type sold at elephant 8 years ago for £480

[pennymachines]

I've merged Coppin's query with an older one which shows a similar '30s BMCo allwin (posted by JP) with the the Deco-style cabinet and glitter flash.

The EH example above appears to have a newly-made cabinet which doesn't follow BMCo design or dimensions.
The one below was sold at Chippenham Auctions last Saturday.
As far as I know, these allwins don't have a name.

[pennyket]

Is there any chance of seeing the workings of the blue machine? I'm new to the penny machine game and bought my first machine yesterday and it's the same as the blue one. I'm not sure if everything is there, as it was a box of bits.

Any help would be appreciated,
Cheers Pennyket

[pennymachines]

Hi Pennyket,
I don't own the above machine, but if you post a picture of what you have, I'm sure we can identify what's missing.
All BM Co. manual payout allwins are much the same inside.

[pennyket]

These are photos of my semi assembled machine. Any advice would be great.

Cheers Pennyket

[badpenny]

Nice … I think there may be a screw and a couple of washers absent!?

BP

[arrgee]

Odd, there are usually holes and a route in the backboard for the losing ball to travel. It appears only to be a (large) route for the winning ball.

[gameswat]

Argee, I imagine the two lose holes just let the ball drop through to the exit hole below.