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Hi Plonx , welcome to the site, this is the place to be to do your research and I hope you will do well with it, and maybe share it with us all at some point Have you seen a book called Arcades and Slotmachines by Paul Brathwaite? this book has a list of all the known machines that were made by Charles Ahrens, and also a potted history of the company :thumbs: and could be of use to your research,

Welcome plonx........... happy hunting, have you any family photos you'd be happy to share with us?

Regards
Badpenny

Hi Plonx, welcome and thanks for your comments.
It's always great to hear from someone with a direct link to the industry - especially to such an illustrious name as Ahrens.
Although Charles was of German origin his games are regarded as quintessentially British. I'm curious to know what his background and experience was before he came over here.

Plonx,

Son, you are about to discover that you are the equivalent of a catnip toy just dropped into a box of kittens. So let me add my welcome from the other side of the pond. When you're ready to tour America with your book, "My Life as the Heir to A British Coin-Op Legend," please let me know. I can arrange your tour schedule here and get you a joint interview with our latest media darling, that bimbo Governor from No-Nothing Land, also known as the state of Alaska. Welcome aboard!

Thankyou Gentlemen for the welcome-- I will keep you posted----Plonx

The only surviving photo of Charles Ahrens. Presumably a double exposure ?

Many thanks for the picture Plonx. It's a treasure and really thrilling to see what he looked like at last. What a suitably amusing image! Your Grandfather appears to have been quite a character. For some reason I expected him to be sober and dour but he has rather a mischievous air.

plonx wrote:The only surviving photo of Charles Ahrens. Presumably a double exposure ?

Hi Plonx , Thanks for posting the photo of your Grandad Charles, it is nice to see one of the faces behind the machines, after all if it was not for people like him we would not have any machines to collect Regards Stuart.

Hi , I have been doing some research into Charles Ahrens, and as well as the machines he made he was known as a great animal lover, infact he kept many animals at his factory, one of which was a chimpanzee called Peter, and in 1933 both Peter the chimp and Mrs Ahrens made a very brief appearence in a crowd scene in a film called The Lucky Number directed by Anthony Asquith. the photo is a still taken from that film and shows them in the bottom right hand corner, some of his machines also featured in the film, if I can get the stills I will post them later.

I have just added this photo of a Marathon Cycle Racer, it was the only other Ahrens photo I could lift from this film.