You are here:
- Home
- Style
- Antiques
- Collectibles-General (Antiques)
- Tom Boland Slot Machine
Collectibles-General (Antiques)/Tom Boland Slot Machine
Advertisement
Question
I have a slot machine that I was told was made by Mills and converted by Tom Boland to one of his after market machines. My Slot machine has a single reel with the name 'The White City' on the top and below it has 'Greyhound Racer' then on the circle emblem has 'Brooklands Totalisator'. Is this really a Tom Boland slot machine? The machine works great but I am missing the back door. I am not sure if the door was constructed out of wood or metal? Also can anyone tell me where to find out more about Tom Boland? Thanks
Hi Steve, I just spoted one like yours on ebay with lots of good photo's. It at:
)
http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-WHITE-CITY-50-CENT-ANTIQUE-SLOT-MACHINE-NO-RESERVE_W0QQi...
Or ebay item: 260546338569
Rodger
Hi Steve,
Something is up with the site here, as I haven't been getting notified of questions waiting here for me as in the past, I received one question waiting email, and found four here from different times. I like to respond as fast as I can, but I don't know your waiting unless allexperts lets me know. Anyway Steve, to your question <<WOW>> Whopper question Here! I bet you have been chasing this one for a bit. I seen one like yours in a group of strange machines that were offered to me years ago, I mean years like 30 or more. I never quite understood the one with the greyhound on it being made with an all wood cabinet. I felt like it could of been a cabinet made by a very good cabinet maker to fit a set of mills slot machine parts maybe. Years later, I found out what it was, and yes it is a Tom Boland Revamp, which was made in Great Britain in the area of say 1948. Some were English Penny machines, which were the size of our U.S.A. 0.50 cent coins. You see some machines that are mistakenly called .50 cent machines and there not, there English Penny machines if they were made in Great Britain. Tom Boland revamps were based on the Mills mechanism. Some were three reel machines and some cleverly presented single reel machines in the characteristic style of three reel machines. The usual fruits are replaced by world-famous film stars on "The Film Stars" model. You just change the reel symbols to up date the film Star image of this model, like Rita Hayworth and John Wayne conjure up the 1950's on the screen stars model. Also Great Britain slot machines liked to use numbers on the reel strips instead of fruit symbols like we see here. I wish I could remember what the back door was made out of for sure, but I do really think it was wood also, and that would make total sense as metal was still in short supply around that time. I will attach a photo to this showing three different Tom Boland models and if you would like to see the All Wood Model write me at Jackpot7@q.com and I'll scan that one and send it back to you as I can only post one photo here. As for finding even more information on Tom Boland I would go to my web site at http://www.coinslots.com and at the very bottom of the page you will see a slot machine web ring banner link, click on that and it will see a list of a bunch of slot machine sites, and some good ones with history are listed in Great Britain and the UK. I think you might find more information listed about history on some of these and if not, write the web site as they will know this machine, and know of Tom Boland. Nice Slot Machine Steve, and rare to see them on this side of the big pond. Also great question, one I enjoyed reliving, and a machine I wish I would of bought while the getting was good.
Thank You
Sincerely
Rodger Knutson
http://www.coinslots.com
- View Follow-Ups
- Add to this Answer
- Ask a Question
Questioner's Rating
| Rating(1-10) | Knowledgeability = 10 | Clarity of Response = 10 | Politeness = 10 |
| Comment | Thanks Rodger for all your help and your in-depth explanation. I will continue to research the machine because as you said it was probably a wood back door since the top was wood covered in sheet metal. Again, I can tell you did a lot of research and I really appreciate your time and effort. Thanks again Steve | ||
Related Articles
Collectibles-General (Antiques)
Answers by Expert:
- Michael Andrew Wilson
- robert klein
- Fred Taylor
- Rodger Knutson
- Eileen Cronk
- Bill & Jan Berning
- Irene Schwall
- Barbara K. Acchino
- Rex Ransome
- Larry Bieza
- Anderson's Restorations-Rob Anderson
- DARWIN D. BEARLEY
- Chad Boekelheide
- The Wicker WomanŽ-Cathryn Peters
- David Burritt
- Bob Wiley
- Marc A. Hess
- Tom Novitski
- Marvin D. Miller
- Robert Barnes
- Frederic Rozier
- G Zimmerman
- Jack Freund
- Russell Barnes
- Dennis Wolbach
- David Silver
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!
©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.