GIRLS and FLEAS

Show us what you found. Make us jealous!
roger
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Re: GIRLS and FLEAS

Post by roger »

Mr P inquired if the microscope, as pictured, resembles my former machine. The top sign looks very familiar but I am uncertain about the base. But then again, as I stated in a prior post, I find it hard to remember if I brushed my dentures this AM let alone events that transpired over 65 years ago. ROGER :tarah:
roger
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Re: FLEAS

Post by roger »


monkey scratch.jpg

Some time ago Mr. P. inquired if the microscope, as pictured, was mine... (not the monkey)... Recent events determined that the sign and base were indeed from my collection which I had discovered at the old Munves warehouse.

Gameswat pointed out that the top sign and base made for a strange marriage. Still, a very interesting machine, and likely a one of a kind. Mr. P. also made reference to Roover's patents on a coin-operated microscope... I'd spring for $50.00 to get my hands on one of these........ I'm a great fan of the Rover's line of automatons. ROGER
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gameswat
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Re: GIRLS and FLEAS

Post by gameswat »

Hey Roger, you wanted to know the location of this pictured machine. Since at least 1988 it has been in the ownership of Marvin's Marvelous Mechnical Museum and still on location there being operated.

In a Spring 1988 The Coin Slot magazine interview with owner Marvin Yagoda, there is a photo of the same machine, and he says "I don't know if there is another like this one, a coin operated microscope, you can look in and see a human hair, an embryo of a louse, all for a nickel. This was made by Bausch and Lomb, who are still in the optical business. I noticed here in the scrollwork it says Caille, they probably bought parts from different people. There is a No. 6 stamped on it so it's probably a prototype. " The fact it's serialed would really suggest they did make some for commercial use and not only a prototype. That this seems to be the only survivor would mean very low numbers though, and likely built originally for a special purpose, such as being located at the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair?

Online there are several descriptions that say the museum currently states "See the Invisible World" is a 1917 prototype of the only coin-operated microscope ever made. " . Where they came up with that fanciful date is beyond me?! As I pointed out earlier that marquee frame is from a Caille machine circa 1906 or slightly later. The high art deco logo on the front of the machine dates ithe machine much later than 1917, most likely early to mid 1930's. I tried to find the machine logo on other pieces but could not find this exact one anywhere. Though the same triangular frame was used in the 1930's with less art deco lettering style.
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gameswat
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Re: GIRLS and FLEAS

Post by gameswat »

Where they came up with that fanciful date is beyond me?!
Ha, well in the same magazine interview, Marvin happily admits to being a bullshit artist and embellishing the stories to many of his machines and pieces!

"I have a slot machine on display, just a normal machine. I put a story on the machine that it came from the Detroit River after being there many years. Now we are showing it for their pleasure. Whether it was the Detroit River or wasn't doesn't make any difference. Who knows and who cares? I like it when people get enjoyment from reading these things. When I told a girl who worked for me that this probably wasn't true. she felt badly about it, but you have to fool around with certain stories. I'm not claiming stories that would injure anybody. It's just for fun and laughter, to stimulate a persons thoughts. I like little histories on these machines, trying to be accurate as possible, although there are some that may not be 100% accurate." !PUNISH!

Well sadly bullshit stories can and do occasionally end up causing others grief, when they spend hard earned cash on "rare" machines that don't end being what they thought or hoped for at all.
roger
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Just plain B.S

Post by roger »


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Gameswat has tracked down my former Microscope and I'm glad to see it ended up in a museum.
Apparently, the present owner is a bit of a B.S. artist and tends to embelish the stories associated with the museum's holdings.
It should be noted that Munves sold the machine to me without any deception... Some operator probably put this machine together using mismatched parts and traded it to Munves for a new machine. I did not realize that the marquee predated the body of the Microscope but would have purchased it anyway.
My clue to surviving in the world of Coin-Ops was to never pay big bucks for a machine and never buy machines that had been "restored" to off the assemly line condition.
My serious investment funds were invested in Stocks and Bonds for which, boastfully, I consider myself an expert.
ROGER
Last edited by roger on Thu Nov 02, 2023 2:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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brigham
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Re: GIRLS and FLEAS

Post by brigham »

Stocks and Bonds pay 0, as any Little Stockbroker will tell you!
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moonriver
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Re: GIRLS and FLEAS

Post by moonriver »

:lol:
roger
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Re: GIRLS and FLEAS

Post by roger »

I have developed a guilt complex since reviewing my flea post.
Who would want to own a penny arcade machine that exploits the poor little flea?
How would you like a pin struck thru your body and then displayed in a machine for a lousy 5 cents ?
Still other fleas, lucky enough to escape this crusification process, might end up in a "flea circus" where their owners exploit them with humiliating circus acts.
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Blame it on the English.....These barbaric performances were first introduced in London by Mark Scalot in 1578.
And talk about profit margins....Fleas eat next to nothing and their clothing requirements are minimum.

As the circus acts became more complex, the fleas were trained to drag around heavy gold wagons.... It makes Nero, Caligula, and Commodus seem like saints.

I won't even tell you how the fleas were motivated to perform these tricks... Do your own research and you will give up any desire to own a coin-operated Microscope. ROGER
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