FORUM

Thread moved - Site Admin.

Dreams really do come true. Discovered in Dallas this month. Story to follow. Your American correspondent.

The story is now in the "Arena."

Thread moved & merged - Site Admin.

An Automatic Sports Company arcade game from 1912, "The Marksman" went to auction today in Ann Arbor, Michigan at http://www.showtimeauctions.com. When the dust settled, the mermaid shooter sold for $175,000USD plus 15% premium, for a total of $201,250, plus local tax.
They described the machine correctly as a Matthewson game but labelled it "The War Game" Mermaid.'

I do not know how long the link will be good but for now, take a look at:
http://bid.showtimeauctions.com/Rare-Co ... d_i9337232

I'd sure like to know who bought her.

J. Peterson
Your American Spy

John T. Peterson wrote: I do not know how long the link will be good but for now, take a look at:
J. Peterson
Your American Spy

Hi John , I have managed to capture a photo of the page , click on photo to make it bigger, so now it should be here for ever

All that commission plus another 6% local sales tax .... GULP!!

Yeah but that 6% sales tax was only for Michigan residents, makes it pretty reasonable without that!! Hehe. Otherwise I thought prices were considerably down on the rarer machines. A few high prices but a lot of low ones. I guess the economy is still a big issue for them.

The one I wanted was the "Rock-It" by Doraldina. That is one of the most fun machines I've ever played, small and super deco style. But sadly only two known from what I'm told and well out of range of my threadbare pockets.

Humm....................makes a retreeva look cheap !

Interesting, if you zoom in on the picture you can see the soldier targets, their heads can only be about 5 to 10mm wide.............and the instructions say aim between the eyes !!!!!

Topic moved & merged - Site Admin.

Hi- I was hoping the experts on this forum might be able to give me some information on a coin-operated cricket game- discovered in my late father's trove of odds and ends.

As you can see from the picture, it's a two-player game. The top is about 20" by 7 3/8". It's been housed in a wooden box that hides the mechanism- I've no idea if he ever had the original cast iron (?) case.

The condition is 'original' with light surface rust; the figures have lost almost all their paint. The mechanism has been kept oiled, and while a few pins look very worn, it all looks in reasonable shape. Both batsman (with W G Grace-style beard) and bowler seem to operate ok. A couple of bits of fence and bails are missing. The only identification marks seem to be the number '1221' stamped on the levers, on the plates behind the levers, and on the frame near the right hand lever, and also a capital 'D' on the frame near the same location (see picture).

I'd be interested to know who made it, and when it might have been made. Is it likely to interest a collector? Where would I get information and/or guidance regarding restoration?

Hi kidston, welcome to the forum you have what looks like the makings of a nice vintage machine, sorry I dont know the maker, but feel sure someone on here will be able to tell you
I would think that the machine would have looked something like the cast iron Golf machine when new?? see photo.

I'm pretty sure you have the mechanism to Cricket Match by Automatic Sports, Co. of London, circa 1899. A close up picture of the two players from a complete game is below.

It would be a challenge to reconstruct the complete iron case game. The mechanism itself would be of great value to one who had the case but not the mechanism.

Great find!

J Peterson
CricketMaster in America

Here is the complete game:

Come on John. How many of these do you have....?

Alas, Cheeky, there was only one Cricket and he managed to hop away while I was arranging college funding for one of the children.

It was fun while it lasted.

J Peterson
Cricketless in America

Well JP, obviously some would say you didn't deserve to own such a machine if you were willing to put it after a family member!?

John T. Peterson wrote:Alas, Cheeky, there was only one Cricket and he managed to hop away while I was arranging college funding for one of the children.

It was fun while it lasted.

J Peterson
Cricketless in America

Oh well, I am guessing you are hopping mad!

Thank you to all who responded both on and off-list about the cricket game. The information you provided has been invaluable, and has clarified my thinking. I already have a number of time-consuming interests (too many, according to my spouse …), so I'd be reluctant to take on another restoration task- particularly one that would be better undertaken by someone more experienced in these mechanisms.

I will be fully committed for the next several weeks, so I won't be able to do anything until late May. When I'm in a position to move, I'll post here to let everyone know what's happening.

As I mentioned previously, the game is housed in a wooden box in which it can be operated- see images. The box has what would appear to be the original brass coin slot attached- it has the number 1221 stamped into it, the same number as stamped on several parts of the game itself. Lastly, one piece of information that may not have been apparent is that the cricket game is presently located in Canberra, Australia.

Interesting what turns up in OZ!?

John T. Peterson wrote:Alas, Cheeky, there was only one Cricket and he managed to hop away while I was arranging college funding for one of the children.

Lucky for you you're such a great father JP, otherwise I'd have been excited about this as a project and probably ended up camped out on your gamesroom floor making foundry patterns for weeks. Dodged a bullet there john.

Gameswat,

You're welcome to camp out on my floor anytime! I still have an AutoTalkie that calls your name.

jp

Topic copied from Patent research and merged - Site Admin.

Absolutely Sterling work by Sweetmeats, Gameswat and Mr Pennymachines in finding the patents for the Twist Your Grip, Try Your Grip and the Automatic Shooting Range. No wonder I could never find these patents when searching for them years ago as they were commonly stated to be Matthewson machines and that is what I searched for them as. It's great to have established who really invented and made these machines.

Other mysteries still remain to be cleared up regarding the Matthewson machines however. There is no patent for the Golf machine, most likely as Sweetmeats says, the mechanism is based on Matthewson's Football machine. However I wonder if he originally intended to design something that worked differently. Golf machines found here in Australia had a Directions plate which had no relation to the way in which the game worked (see Matthewson's incorrect Golf plate photo). Instead they all work in accordance with a later Matthewson plate and the Rowland's Golf plate which is found on the machines that have turned up in the UK. Perhaps Matthewson got the plates made in advance for what he hoped to accomplish and still used them inadvertently or perhaps he just gave the wrong instructions to the plate maker.

Little is also known about where Rowland fits into the picture. Some of this was cleared up by Bolland but his memory was astray and he also added some misconceptions to the Matthewson story. He told Jon Gresham and others that Matthewson had used a recycled aquarium as the pattern for the Yacht Race machine. I was able to scuttle this by finding the design patents for the Matthewson machines including the Yacht Race, Cricket and Football in 1988 after an incredibly tortuous search for the British design patents. These design patents are Cricket No 377195 of 1901, Mermaid Yacht Race 399522 of 1902 and wooden cased Football machine 572441 oddly taken out in 1910 when the machine was patented in 1896. One of these wooden cased Football machines exists in Australia having been brought here by a British collector some years ago.

Strangely enough I found a zinc version of the cast iron base of the mermaid machines in a country antique shop many years ago for sale for $A800 about 400 pounds. The owner of the shop was a Belgian man who imported container loads of antiques from France and Belgium. This would figure as to my knowledge zinc was not usually used in British coin op machines, but was used in coin op machines made in France, eg the chicken egg laying and negro vending machines, the electric shocker pig etc. When I went back to the shop I was told that a local lady had bought it to use in her bathroom??? Shortly after the shop disappeared so that I never got to speak to the owner about the zinc mermaid base's origins.

Further interesting concerns about Matthewson's machines relate to two more of his coin op machines, which, to my knowledge no copies of still exist anywhere. One is a very early one, British Patent No 19, 243 of 30th September 1893 for improvements in Coin or the like Operated Apparatus for Testing the Force of a Blow, a fascinating machine which is really a coin operated version of the well known Fairground Striker which fires the coin up to a bell. The other is a much later patent British Patent no 196,650 of April 23 1923 a relatively simple machine which he called Police. Does any trace of these machines exist beside the patents?

Topic moved & merged - Site Admin.

Hello,
I am new to the forum and hope someone can help me with a British machine that I recently purchased here in the USA. It is a golf machine made by the Automatic Sports Company. It is currently not working but hopefully it is something minor. I have several questions:

Does anyone know the proper size and composition of the golf ball ?
Does anyone have an extra back door or would be willing to take pictures of theirs or better yet make a duplicate ?
Is there any chance of locating an original stand ?
If you own one of these fantastic machines, can you take a video of it in action?
Does anyone have any photos of any Automatic Sports machines on location?
Is there any literature available on Automatic Sports - ads, etc.?
Does anyone know the original paint colors?

Sorry for all the questions, but I am hoping someone can help.
Thanks, Tom