Seriously?

[gameswat]

Do people really pay these sorts of prices for repro allwins? Or did the newbie buyer honestly believe it was a restored "vintage" machine as the ad claimed!?

allwin 9 cup arcade game vintage[restored] gwo very clean.pachinko pachislo oak.

[widget2k4]

That was mine, I stripped it and redone it and sold it at EH auction for about £380. Same day it was on ebay for £600.

[badpenny]

I doubt whether it was sold at that price, regardless of what is claimed.

Anyway the date on the photo says 10 years ago, how old do you need stuff to be?

In America'land that'd be a Vintage, Veteran Antique

[youngerap]

Good luck to the enterprising chap who saw where a few quid in profit could be made. This country needs more of this to bolster up the income tax receipts and pay for those badly needed public services we hear so much about.

[coppinpr]

Good luck to the enterprising chap who saw where a few quid in profit

Yes he would make a good politician,they lie all the time as well

[mei-mei]

Hi, I have been searching the web for old pics of the ten cup, and most of them have the stripey back-flash. I seem to remember as a child seeing some that had a different back-flash. Am I mistaken?, does anyone have a pic of a really old one? Thanks, Mei-mei

[arrgee]

does anyone have a pic of a really old one

This forum is littered with pics Mei-mei, try the search facility (hit Menu on top left corner of the page). The 'stripey back-flash' you mention is probably a Bryans allwin dating from the 1950s/60s/70s.
Try entering 'saxony allwin' in Google images (just 'allwin' brings up loads of digital printers as well) you will see a lot of different wall games, this is part of the page I got on Google images.....

[mei-mei]

Appreciated thank you, Mei-mei

[pennymachines]

Early (pre '50s) ten cup allwins usually have plain flashes, either cloth or plastic, like this '30s BMCo.

[mei-mei]

Yeah, thank you. That is exactly how I remember it. Does that mean the stripy flash was on all later machines? I have seen a lot of refurbs using the stripy flash on all sorts of machines and find it confusing which flash would have originally gone with which machine. It would have made better sense for the manufacturers to give each machine its own flash making it unique rather than a generic flash you can put on anything. What would be really helpful is for someone to compile a reference listing various permutations.

[pennymachines]

Stripy backflashes were a feature off all Bryans allwins (except the Pilwin).

A few other 50's allwins also wore stripes, but not the same colour pattern.
Wondermatics made a Ten Cup (1957) with horizontal stripes and diamonds on the flash.

and Oliver Whales made a cigarette payout version in 1949 and a coin payout one in 1956. Post '50s Whales allwins usually had picture flashes.

[mei-mei]

Thank you, very helpful. Mei-mei

[gameswat]

I've had quite a few pre-war allwins, many BMCO, that had plastic stripy flashes to update from original felt, and these were sheets of solid coloured plastic cut into stripy patterns and glued down.

[mei-mei]

Neat, are they copies of originals or did you come up with the pattern yourself?

[gameswat]

The pattern above is restored to as I found it, though this machine started life with a green felt background. These separate plastic sheets versions tend to shrink and curl over time. Some have been angled one way or the other in an asymmetric style. I found this as just a ratty door and purchased for parts but ended up saving it.

[mei-mei]

Wow amasing! I'd like to use the felt as that is how I remembered it, but worried about the curling up issue.

[gameswat]

The original style cloth felt can't ever curl since it's one piece. The multi piece plastic coloured sheet was an operator re-vamp done to modernise these older felt backed machines, possibly done late 30's to just after the war. I quite liked this particular pattern so decided to leave the machine that way as the green felt backgrounds can look quite basic in comparison once you've owned a few. Plastic will shrink over time but it will take like 25+ years, if not a lot more!

After WW2 they started using the newly invented clear plastic sheet for backflashes, silk screening on the back so the ball wouldn't wear the art off. A one piece backflash (as used by Bryans) will be much less likely to curl compared to the older style multi-piece version I've been talking about as shown above.

[mei-mei]

Neat. The more I get into this, the more I just love it. The history is so interesting and the satifaction from restoring a machine is better than chocolate!!!!

[arrgee]

The more I get into this, the more I just love it. The history is so interesting

Mei-mei - check out these books:
Arcades and Slot Machines by Paul Braithwaite: available in the Library (British) part of the Menu (top left of screen)
also:
Automatic Pleasures: The History Of The Coin Machine by Nic Costa
Both are excellent reading material with plenty of photos

WARNING: this hobby can take over your life

[mei-mei]

Too late, already has!!!!