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Collectibles-General (Antiques)/Antique Mills 5-Cent Slot Machine

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Expert: - 12/27/2009


Question

Slot - Front
Hi, Rodger.  I enjoy your site/responses very much and thought I would submit my question regarding a Mills Novelty Company 5-Cent Slot Machine that has been in our family for a very long time.  I have attached pictures of the machine.  As best I can tell, it has never been restored.  It is in working order, and includes an original key and lock.  Can you give me some idea what this slot machine might be worth?  Thanks for your help.


Answer

Mills chrome diamond f
Hi Matt,

You have a Mills Chrome Front or nicked named "Diamond Front" made from 1938 to 1953. I have attached some information to this answer. Value on a machine like this can be in two ways, a dealer might offer you around 400.00 to 600.00 for it but right now prices on old common slots are down. If you were to sell it yourself you could ask around 1,200.00 for it and you might find a buyer with a little luck and at 900.00 or 950.00 I would think it would sell. Restoring a machine like this would run about 1,000.00 or more, so restoring it would not really be an option for you unless your were wanting to have it restored and keep it for other reasons. This is a fairly common machine really, you see some that have been painted so they look a little different. Quarter machines the most desirable for most first and second time buyers. Your machine looks to me to be a later machine in this 1938 to 1953 run as it has an sword style handle on it, earlier machines used a pressed and formed steel handle that was not cast iron. I would guess yours to be made around 1939 and the serial number could tell us more about this. For selling this Machine you have a few options I could help guide you with. One might be ebay auction and you could state that the buyer must arrange pickup and shipping of the machine. Another could be crags list to find a local buyer. I can provide you with a link to them if you need one sometime, and adds are free, and free is a very good thing in my book. Also you could either offer it to an antique dealer or consign it with one. Also you always have the local auction where both good or bad things happen. I aim to keep my feed back high so if there is any more question or any other help I can give you please just ask, and thank you for you question and providing a photo. One other thing, I have talked about this machine several times here in the past, if you go to the search box above and type in Mills diamond front and you will find a bunch more information about this machine that I have answered here that may be interesting and helpful to you.

Cheers

Sincerely
Rodger Knutson
Http://www.coinslots.com  
    Questioner's Rating
    Rating(1-10)Knowledgeability = 10Clarity of Response = 10Politeness = 10
    CommentExcellent and informative expert; dependable and sincere.


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Rodger Knutson

Expertise

I am an expert on old coin operated machines, slot machines, trade stimulator's, jukeboxes, old arcade machines, etc. I have been identifying these for people who respond to my web site listed below, for a few years now. In almost all cases I am able to tell them about their old coin operated machines, the year, the value, and other general information about their machines. I do not know much about soda vending machines, coin banks, or scales, but I will try to help you with these if I can. Please email photo's to: jackpot7@ix.netcom.com My web site is at: http://www.coinslots.com

Experience

I bought my first slot machine, a .50 Cent Mills Black Cherry in 1969 and have been hooked from that time, I still have that Slot machine! Before that I found a open barrel full of old scraped jukebox wall boxes behind a restaurant, I wanted them all but never took a one of them. Anything that took a coin drove me nuts!

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