Jennings Governor - opinions?

[dutchboy]

Evening everyone, just saw this one for sale. I was wondering if somebody has an opinion about this machine. I have my doubts about the shiny chrome, the wood and the mechanism , or is it maybe one of the youngest machines? It is a 2.5 hour drive to watch it, so that's the reason why i ask you.
Thanks.

[badpenny]

It's hard to tell if it's a wooden cabinet or a formica clad one.
The castings do look good, possibly re-chromed or even de-chromed and then highly polished.

Either way I personally don't consider any of that a problem.
It wouldn't take much to convert back to 6d if you wanted to.
I think I'd possibly want more detailed photos before driving any great distance to view it. It does appear to have escalator and JP bank but a close photo of the mech out of the case would confirm that.

I recall about 20 years ago these were considered "The Bees' Knees" and were being toted around for about £1K. Nowadays £800 seems about right.

[dutchboy]

Thanks for the info badpenny, the price he ask is indeed about 750 pounds. Another thing i saw was the payout of 3,5 and 10 coins. Does it usual have a max payout of 18 coins?

[badpenny]

I didn't spot that.
Certainly my Jennings machines are are on 18 payout.

We have mentioned these 10 coin machines before but I can't recall what the conclusion was.
I imagine something to do with changes in law surrounding value of play and awards.

I'm sure one of our more knowledgeable collectors can be more accurate.

BP

[JC]

The 1960 Betting and Gaming Act allowed gaming machines to be operated in public places, but with a maximum payout of 12 x the stake. Therefore the slides were altered to a top 12 and jackpots were removed (it seems odd that this particular machine has a top payout of 10).
Surviving machines that still have the original 18 payout and jackpot would have been used in private members clubs.

[dutchboy]

Thanks bp/jc, i didn't knew about the max pay out of 12. Each day there's somthing to learn By the way will there be something to do in coventry the first half of the year?

[cheeky]

JC is right. 12x was the maximum payment which is why most 'original' old penny bandits pay out 12d however the 6d machines were different and could pay out x18. I am not sure if this was a club thing or not?

[badpenny]

Thanks bp/jc, i didn't knew about the max pay out of 12. Each day there's somthing to learn By the way will there be something to do in coventry the first half of the year?

November as usual, we are focusing on quality once a year rather than the alternative.

BP

[dutchboy]

That will give some extra time to gather some coins to spent!

[coppinpr]

This is defiantly an odd machine,its clearly a public area machine (no self respecting club would have a 1p machine) and Im guessing it was the conversion to 1p that determined the change to 10 payout, the 1960 act had a max of 12 because the coin in use (1d) was in units of 12 (1 shilling) the switch to decimal would make sense to be in units of 10. A shame to see such a classic machine on 1p....needs to be 6d in my view

[badpenny]

I just stacked a column of 10 x1np ( not the latest steel ones ) against one of tanners.
The 6d stack had 12.

[treefrog]

A lot of machines were revamped by the big companies in the UK, buying in old machine from US and UK machines. This also sometimes included putting in new cabinets and would change denomination and themes. I have a few brochures from the '60s stating this and suspect your machine will be one of these and a lot of the later ply/Formica cabinets

The original non oak cabinets were rubbish and fell apart

[dutchboy]

This is getting out of control, you could have stop by 12 coins!
I made an offer at the machine, let's see what happens.

[chris rideout]

A lot of machines were revamped by the big companies in the UK, buying in old machine from US and Uk machines. This also sometimes included putting in new cabinets and would change denomination and themes.

Another point which leaps to my eyes was the reduction in payouts when these old machines had token only payouts. For the bells/plums/oranges, they were originally 18/14/10 but when modified they paid 10/10/10 even though the reels were not changed. Bad news for the punter! The "jackpots" were also 10 tokens. That's all, folks!

[dutchboy]

I bought the machine last week. You're right Chris, a ten payout with an jackpot. The spring from the flap to the jackpot was disconnected, so the coins go to the cashbox. Mechanism is very dirty with oil and grease and nicotine, even the slides. Hope to find some time to work on it and make some pics.
Greetings.