Mills Novelty Co Slot Machine
---Call us at 800-691-6042--- we can help with your collection needs.
The Mills Novelty Company was founded in 1891 by Mortimer Mills in Chicago, Illinois. Mills was a leading U.S. Manufacturer of coin operated vending machines such as jukeboxes and slot machines. They launched the first upright cabinet slot machine, the Mills Owl, in 1897. A nice as found condition QT slot machine by the Mills novelty Company. Original finish to the wood cabinet with original Mills brass label and decals, Original back door, no lock. The Mills Novelty Company Inc. Manufactured slot machines, vending machines, automatic music machines and jukeboxes. Mortimer Mills received a patent for a coin vending apparatus in the early 1890s. The company’s first upright slot machine was called the Mills Owl, introduced in 1897.
Sales of Mills Violanos continue to be strong, We have just added two single Mills Violanos (one Oak and one Mahogany case) which have recently been finished at the Haughawout shop. In addition we have a beautiful Mills Race Horse Piano that is also being offered in fully restored ready to go condition!
We also has just received the largest collection of nickelodeon, European and American orchestrion motors, extremely early open armature motors (as used in Encore Banjo machines, etc.,etc.). This group includes NOS Nelson Wiggin motors! Wurlitzer motors and transmissions, JP Seeburg motors, many Mills Novelty Violano generators (even the rare hanging Bow front motors) and many pancake motors from the early days. We haven't quite figured out how to group and sell them yet! But, if you are looking for a genuine 1920 stock motor for your restoration project, give us a call..
DON'T BE CONCERNED when other music merchants cry the sky is falling, and sing the blues to get you to accept a lower price for your for sale items. They play down the current market because they are not selling anything! NOT SO at Mills Novelty. We are very happy to again have a small supply of original Mills Violanos to offer for sale, and other items back in stock and ready for immediate sale. It is proof beyond question that Mills Novelty sells, and QUALITY items sell!
If you are thinking of selling your collection, give us a call. We can help you find the correct combination of private placement and other marketing to sell your items.
The wonderful Phillips Paganini and the extremely large Wurlitzer 30A Piano-Orchestrion previously for sale, have both been sold! If you are looking for something specific or we can help answer questions, please feel free to call anytime 800-691=6042. We do not offer opinions or price estimates for items we do not represent for sale, or have never even seen, as some do.
Introduction to Why Slot Machines Say Bar
Why do slot machines say bar on their reels? Well, to understand why this tradition came to be, we’ll have to delve into slot machine history. First of all, these gambling devices weren’t always called slot machines. Slot machines were originally referred to as a one-armed bandit, then later in Great Britain as a fruit machine.
A slot machine gambling device is activated by pulling a handle or pushing a button. This can only be done after coins, tokens, cash, or casino credits has been entered. Consequently, reels with symbols begin to spin. When done spinning, the symbols shown lined up along pay lines are used to determine the payout, if any.
Reel symbols are often traditional, including stars, bars, numbers, and various pictured fruits. Fruits can include cherries, plums, oranges, lemons, and watermelons. The number seven is also very popular. And, finally, then there are bar reel symbols.
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Bar Reel Symbols
Fruit reel symbols were first used in slot machine by the Industry Novelty Company in 1909. This was quickly followed the next year by Mills Novelty Company of Chicago, recently inherited by Herbert Stephen Mills. But, with a slight addition.
Mills added the photograph of a chewing gum pack along with the fruit reel symbols. Soon after, these photographs of a chewing gum pack were replaced with a stylized bar symbol.
Slot machines have a very rich history. Within gaming device circles of the time, it was well known that Charles Augustus Fey of San Francisco refused to sell or lease the design of his first coin-operated slot machine, the Liberty Bell, which he invented around 1887.
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So, how did Mills get the design from Fey? There are two theories. First, that Fey cooperated with Mills to spread the use of slot machines. After all, Fey is known as the “Father of Slots” both for his invention of the coin-operated device as well as popularizing its use.
The second theory is Mills somehow “obtained” a Liberty Bell as a result of a San Francisco saloon robbery in 1905. Less than a year later, Mills produced a new version of the Liberty Bell called either the Mills Liberty Bell or Operator Bell.
During my review of the history of early slot machines, there are also suggestions the bar symbol may have another origin story. It is generally accepted that the bar symbol is a stylized image of a chewing gum pack, as well as a company logo.
According to some historical sources, however, the company having that logo may have been the Bell-Gum Fruit company.
A Bit More History
As mentioned, slot machines have a very rich history, especially in their early days. Besides Why Do Slot Machines Say Bar, there are a few other interesting historical items of interest.
In 1916, another historic slot machine innovation created by the Mills Novelty Company was the jackpot. When a specific combination of reel symbols resulted from a bet, the slot machine would empty its coin hopper of all coins as a prize.
The Mills Novelty would later go on to produce slot machines with wooden cabinets, rather than the original cast iron construction materials.
Photos of early slot machines are online at Cyprus Casino Consultant, Casino Observer, the International Arcade Museum, and elsewhere. /skywheel-21-slot-machine.html. I especially enjoy photos of antique slot machines in my copy of Slot Machines: A Pictorial History of the First 100 Years by Marshall Fey, grandson of “the Father of Slot Machines” Charles Fey.
The Cyprus Casino Consultant website shows 4 slot machines on a waist-high counter top. They appear to have wood cabinets and are each perhaps 30 inches high by 18 inches wide. In metric, that’s about 76 centimeters by 46 centimeters.
Each slot machine is of the one-armed bandit variety, meaning they appear to are activated by first inserting a coin and then pulling a large lever on the right side of the machine. Each of these models appears to accept coins at the top, as well as dispense coins for winners at the bottom.
The Casino Observer website also shows 4 slot machines. Two of these machines are some of the first slot machines, from about 1890, while two others are more modern, ~1940s. The two older slot machines receive coins, but only the poker machine appears to not be able to dispense coins. This poker machine has typical card suits as reel symbols and a cast metal-type cabinet.
It appears to be missing its one-armed bandit lever, perhaps due to damage, or it never had a lever. One older slot machine with coin dispenser capability is clearly identified as a “Liberty Bell”. It rests on cast feet located on each corner. The reel symbols show three Liberty Bells, but its “pay table” shows card suits – not fruit or bars.
The International Arcade Museum website shows a single slot machine. It’s a very old slot machine showing the symbol of the Liberty Bell on its front next to three reels showing Liberty Bell, bar, and fruit reel symbols.
This is probably a “Liberty Bell” by Charles Fey, but must be a slightly later version due to it having obvious fruit and bar reel symbols. It also has a cast metal-type cabinet and the distinctive “feet” of a Liberty Bell. It also has a small tray for coins, suggesting it has automatic payouts.
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Charles Fey manufactured about 100 Liberty Bell slot machines for distribution in and around San Francisco. However, there are few of them remaining in existence. The scarcity of Fey’s Liberty Bell is a direct result of a natural disaster occurring shortly after their manufacture: the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.
Summary of Why Slot Machines Say Bar
Starting in 1907, Bell Fruit Gum slot machines were manufactured by Industry Novelty Co. They were followed by the Mills Novelty Company in 1910.
The reels on these slot machines included cherry, melon, orange, apple, and bar symbols with non-cash payouts in the form of fruit-flavored gum, allowing machine owners to avoid prosecution under the anti-gambling laws of that time.
The cherry and bar symbols became traditional to slot machines, and are still commonly used today. The bar symbol was a company logo, originally a photo of a chewing gum pack before being stylized as a bar.
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