Info On Mills Roman Head

[rebelmc]

Hi all,

I have decided to list on ebay one of the machines passed on to me from my father. But would like some more information on the machine if possible. It's a Mills Roman Head (thanks google). It looks complete, but is missing the back door and bonnet. Works great. Has a jackpot but I can't see how this would/should work?

Any info would be brilliant.

More specific, if anyone could help with the following:-
Can I date the machine from the serial number?
It's missing the back door and bonnet. Are copies of these available?

[treefrog]

Your definitely tempting us all slowly with these machines....What happened to the Firmans going in the Market, unless you have already sold it.

Castle Front is from early 30's onwards.....there were a few variations and same answer on the serial front, know of anyone that can date these from this, unless someone in the States has written a book on this as Mills machines were produced in vast numbers.

Door one issue and tough to get, but not impossible, the rear hood much more difficult, especially an original. Repro's are available.

So we going to see this one in the market

[rebelmc]

Hi treefrog,
Just trying to make sense of the machines i have. And i need to clear some space before christmas.
I beleive the Firmans would require a collector to totally restore it, ans yes i do need to get my finger out and post it on the market.
Ive concentrated on the the roman head as i believe its more complete, working and everything looks original just missing the bonnet ect and would gain more interest on ebay. And thats what i intend to do.

In your opinion, is it worth buying the repro door and bonnet for the roman head? Or would it be better just to sell as is?
Could you point me in the right direction regarding a bonnet/door supplier?
Regarding the age of the machines ( apologies from my lack of knowledge) would it be fair to say early 1930's when listing it?

Any info again really much apreiciated.

[marktol]

Unless you have a permit from the Gambling Commission, ebay will pull your machine very quickly indeed.

My personal suggestion would be to sell as is. It's more likely to be a serious collector that would purchase that kind of machine and would therefore be more likely to either have a spare or be able to get hold of some originals.

Unless you get a permit, you will struggle hugely with ebay. I would suggest trying the Market/Auction here first. I always list machines I have for sale here first for a while and ebay is by far the last resort and I do have a permit. The other consideration is of course with all the fees etc., you are looking at between 10-15% loss from ebay and here is free...

Cheers,
Mark

[aristomatic]

Unless you have a permit from the Gambling Commission, ebay will pull your machine very quickly indeed.

Ditto.

If you want to clear space before Xmas and have not applied for a single permit already, it is highly unlikely that you would receive a permit till the New Year at the earliest now. Legally, a single permit is what it says, a permit to sell a single machine, e.g. the machine on the permit application. Only 3 permits within 12 months.

I think I replied earlier in the thread to say that if you posted quick details and pictures of all the machines, then posters could contribute as to the relative values and maybe rarity of the machines that you have. Again, this may speed up the process of clearing the space, rather than asking for info on first one, then on another...

If you have incomplete machines, I would agree with the previous poster of selling here, either in Auction with a start price that you are happy to achieve and anything above is a bonus and the market will decide, or in the Market with a fixed price. These project machines could then be sold and more importantly collected prior to Xmas to clear up that space for you.

Any complete machines and or working order could be assessed and advice given as to which items, may do better in either an ebay or an auction house setting with a broader audience, rather than being offered just within the site sales arenas. It would also make more sense if you are to apply for a permit(s) to sell one or more machines that those machines are more likely to bring best value to the permit application, rather than others that you may have applied for, prior to receiving any input here.

Anyway, that's my tuppence hapenny,

GP

[coppinpr]

You MIGHT be lucky on ebay as the machines has missing parts, sell it as incomplete so not usable/working as intended, it still might get reported by our mystery troll but a call to ebay should get it put back on under those conditions

[bandito]

just out of interest.....has anyone ever listed a slot machine on ebay and stated "gaming commission permit applied for" ? i guess if that were to pass the test you could use that wording to sell more than one machine.....or has anyone from ebay ever asked to see a copy of the said "permit" and not just ask for the permit number???

[clubconsoles]

I reckon that's a very interesting point Bandito!
Call me suspisous but I have a feeling that some sellers have faked the single machine permit by making up a number like 000087 as there seem have to been less than 100 issued!
I'm willing to bet eBay does not check with the GC to see if the permit number is genuine?
On another note,I like your avatar, please tell me do you really have a Pace Kitty, I would love to have one of those!

[bandito]

hi Nigel, one of my dream machines is the pace kitty, i don't have one. maybe one day.......you could see my point in regards to the permits. i am guessing ebay have never asked to see one!

[margamatix]

Funnily enough, I listed a Mills Hi-Top last night, and after an increasingly strident stream of messages insisting that I sold the machine to him directly, which ended with me messaging him

There is no "buy it now" price, please either bid on it or go away and stop wasting my time.

, within an hour my auction had been pulled by ebay. His messaging started by telling me that my auction was likely to be pulled so it would be better to sell it to him directly.

Obviously, reasons of confidentiality prohibit me from naming the ebay member himself, except to say that it appears to be a member of this forum who has posted to this thread, as well as every other thread I have found today relating to the removal of ebay listings.

Anyway, I'll be listing a lovely but completely empty Mills Hi-Top Cabinet next weekend, if you get my drift.

[treefrog]

OOOoooooohh Margamatix, you have us in suspense, ip, dip, sky blue....

I did notice your Hi Top on there and thought about a bid, but this and about 3 other machines disappeared at the same time.....never mind, I have given up on ebay now.....occasionally I make contact with the seller afterwards if I have managed to get their details, but they rarely come back..

[margamatix]

OOOoooooohh Margamatix, you have us in suspense, ip, dip, sky blue....

I did notice your Hi Top on there and thought about a bid, but this and about 3 other machines disappeared at the same time.....never mind, I have given up on ebay now.....occasionally I make contact with the seller afterwards if I have managed to get their details, but they rarely come back..

Well, here's what it looked like last night

But unfortunately, when I woke up this morning, I found I'd lost the mechanism. God knows where it is, maybe in the car or the laundry basket but I highly doubt it will ever re-appear.

So now it looks like this, showing all of the wounds of its breaking and entering back in the 1960s.

Anyway, I'll list the cabinet on ebay next weekend in case anyone wants to bid on it but I have to stress that the auction is for the cabinet only and there is absolutely no mechanism included. Oh no no no no no.

[margamatix]

I wonder if (edited to remove personal information - Site Admin.) could possibly be "marktol" from this forum?

EDIT, sharper screenshot.

[treefrog]

Too be fair to Mark, I suspect there are many people out there who directly have a punt at machines with sellers and I am sure they get lucky occasionally.......I am one of the few who wonders whether there really is a troll, as I cannot see ebay reacting fast enough....Anyway have you really lost your mechanism, perhaps its under the bed....

Also are you leaving out slot community, from memory from your listing, you were moving somewhere a little tight and needed to clear your beloved machines, surely you can squeeze one or two in your new abode

[marktol]

Yes,

Indeed it is me. As you mention Treefrog, if there is a machine I'm interested in I will also email the seller to provide my contact details for when it gets pulled from ebay.

Funnily enough, I listed a Mills Hi-Top last night, and after an increasingly strident stream of messages insisting that I sold the machine to him directly, which ended with me messaging him

There is no "buy it now" price, please either bid on it or go away and stop wasting my time.

, within an hour my auction had been pulled by ebay. His messaging started by telling me that my auction was likely to be pulled so it would be better to sell it to him directly.

I think you have completely taken my message the wrong way. I simply gave you my email address to contact me if the machine gets removed as I would be interested in purchasing. I also said I would bid on the ebay item itself if it lasted that long.

In the end I decided the machine wasn't worth it as I found your correspondence unnecessarily rude from the outset. Ebay wont let you email a seller after an auction has been removed so you only have a small window of opportunity to pass contact details over before they remove the item. As I mentioned in my email I'm sure you had many other emails from other people also offering their contact details.

At no point was I insisting that you sold the machine to me directly instead and I only inquired as to how much you were expecting to get for the machine to get a feel for if we were likely to be in a similar place. Never did I say 'you would be better off selling to me' either.

[youngerap]

Well, I listed my Aristocrat Arcadian on eBay a few days ago and it was removed within a few hours.

Oi! Mark! Where is my offer then? It has been days now and still not a peep! I am beginning to feel hurt.

I have known Mark for some time now and, whilst he is definitely passionate about his bandits, my money is on his integrity. Like Treefrog, I am coming round to the idea that eBay is just getting better at policing their auctions. Either that or there is simply someone out there who gets a kick from pissing people off whilst hiding their identity. Probably think they are a super-hero, or something. Whatever, it just writes off ebay as a means of making room for other machines.

[coppinpr]

as I reported in another thread XXX told me that he had ,after a lot of asking, got Ebay to admit to him that it is one person reporting the machines, he told me that it had effected his business so much that he had pestered Ebay to point where they did admit it but would not tell him the name of the person, he said the strongest evidence was of someone in Scotland,

[slotsoffun]

I was under the impression XXX were dealers in slot machines, surely he has a licence to sell more than one machine. In which case, even if reported by someone to ebay, he only has to prove and provide his licence to sell from the gaming commission and they'll let it remain. Maybe I've got this all wrong and even if you pay out big bucks to the gaming commission, the licence certificate to sell gaming machines is not worth the paper its printed on!!!!!
If thats the case, why would anyone bother getting a gaming licence to sell???

Also XXXl told you ebay told them it was one person. A few years ago I had a run in with ebay over something, it almost went all the way to court, and ebay staff would not provide ANY details unless requested in legal paperwork from my solicitor. Find it odd that he got the information so readily over the phone.

Just one more rant... It still winds me up that hundreds of modern fruit machines remain constantly for sale on ebay??? baffles the life outta me!!!

[coppinpr]

Strangely ,and this will come as a shock to most, XXX told me he has no licence and never has had.he could never afford the thousands a year.

He got the info after many calls to ebay from a woman at ebay who was sympathetic to his cause and told him,off the record and in confidence.
the fact that there are hundreds of modern machines that are still usable as gambling machines on ebay is the biggest evidence yet that there is a troll who has a vested interest in vintage machines, ALL those modern machines are subject to the same law yet the ebay police miss ALL of them? . No, as ebay have told me and others on the phone they rely on tip offs only .

[jimmy55]

Perhaps we should draft a letter that we could all blitz eBay with in the new year to try and get an on the record response and sort the question out once and for all. Judging by the speed ( lack of ) that it normally takes to get a customer service response from eBay the 'troll' must have a direct line!