Mills Black Cherry Slot Machine
Mills 5-cent Black Cherry antique slot machine, ca. 1946 This Black Cherry was the first model of slot machine that Mills produced after WWII. They literally had slot operators waiting at the loading dock as they came off the assembly line.original Mills lock & key.excellent original reel strips.original cash box. The Black Cherry Bell coin-operated Slot Machine by Mills Novelty Co. (circa 1945), and it's history and background, photos, repair help, manuals, for sale and wanted lists, and census survey is brought to you by The International Arcade Museum at the Museum of the Game. Tearing down the Escalator from my Mills Black Cherry Slot Machine for cleaning. Mills Novelty Co. Released 671 machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1896. The 5 most common machines by Mills Novelty Co. Owned by VAPS members are (in order): Hi Top, Do-Re-Mi, Vest Pocket, Black Cherry Bell, and Bursting Cherry. The preceeding is a list of machines known to have been made by Mills Novelty Co.
1946 Mills Black Cherry Slot Machine
Antique Mills Slot Machine
Mills Bell Slot Machine
It was rescued from a fraternal lodge in Northern Illinois just before the sheriff came with his sledgehammer.
By the time our proprietor inherited it, it was in somewhat sad shape. Apparently, every time the lodge's bar walls were painted, they painted the slot machines as well. It had many different color coats of latex house paint over the face, side and back. The reels operated, but very slowly. The handle worked its way loose, and the slop eventually split the wood on the right side.
Restoration started with removal of the mechanism from the case and complete sandblasting of the case. The split in the wood was repaired through biscuit joinery. The wooden sides were then sanded and revarnished and a reproduction of the original Mills decal applied to the left side. The front panel was painted a hammertone blue, a close match to the original discovered during sandblasting (see comments below on Buckley slot machines.) The rear bonnet and door were painted the original wrinkle black and a reproduction 'Owner's Maintenance' card was glued to the inside of the rear door.
A relubrication of the mechanism cured the slow operation. The slot now looked and operated as new.
This example of the Mills Black Cherry is actually a Buckley Company remanufactured Mills. You can see the Buckley stamp on this picture of the frame. Buckley would buy used Mills machines, refurbish the mechanics, change the color scheme a bit, then resell them. So technically, this is a Buckley black cherry slot, which is why the arrangements of the cherries and the color differ slightly from the Mills version (the original Mills cherries were offset rather than lining up horizontally and they painted their cases silver rather than light blue.)
The slot came with the original double sided key, somewhat of a rare occurrence. Over the years these keys tend to get lost and modern replacement locks end up getting installed.
Here is a decal we created in Photoshop to replicate the original Mills Owl used on their slot machine stands.