Castle Front (5 cents). What do you guys think?

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Castle Front (5 cents). What do you guys think?

Postby christopheb » Thu Oct 24, 2019 5:56 am

Hello all
I need your expert eyes. Am being offered this little beauty for sale. What do you think ? Buy or not buy ?

Am wondering if this is original and if the mech matches the case.

- The castings and the sides of the case have a nice patina and look original (the base does look a bit too new, possibly replaced).
- The reel strips and the award card are obvious repros.
- The cash box is old, but does not seem original for this machine.
- Am not sure about the backdoor and key...

The serial number stamped on the case is 406450, but can not be found anywhere on the mech. Do you think the mech belongs to this machine ?

I know Castle Fronts are not particularly rare, but I have always found their design appealing. This one looks nice (except for the too new reel strips).

All in all, what do you think of this machine ? Buy or not buy ?. The seller is asking around $1500.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and any possible concerns.

Christophe

Ps : given its serial number is 406450, does anyone have an estimate year of production ? Does this matches with the frame award card (was opposed to the embossed type).
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Re: Castle Front (5 cents). What do you guys think?

Postby christopheb » Thu Oct 24, 2019 5:58 am

Oops. I have no idea why the images are sideways on the post!. They look fine on my PC.
Sorry about that. I'll see if I can do anything to fix this... Christophe
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Re: Castle Front (5 cents). What do you guys think?

Postby mechanic » Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:06 am

It looks like most of it is original except the cash box. The machine was reconditioned at some point. It looks clean and the parts usually missing are there. The ID tag is on the front of the mech behind the overflow hole. It looks greasy and may not show the matching number due to age.
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Re: Castle Front (5 cents). What do you guys think?

Postby bkrsdoz » Fri Oct 25, 2019 5:11 am

I was told that the mech serial number on the stickers never matched the serial stamped on the case/front casting.
The mechs were a hundred or so ahead than the case numbers.
Is this still true?
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Re: Castle Front (5 cents). What do you guys think?

Postby nvmos2 » Fri Oct 25, 2019 7:09 pm

bkrsdoz wrote:I was told that the mech serial number on the stickers never matched the serial stamped on the case/front casting.
The mechs were a hundred or so ahead than the case numbers.
Is this still true?
bkrsdoz

I don't think that was ever true.
I have always thought that when a machine left the Mills factory, the mech and cabinet numbers were the same, as a general rule.
Over the years, I have had 2 all original machines with matching numbers; on most of the rest, the mech serial number sticker was long gone or unreadable.
On other machines they did not match, which is to be expected since mechs were so easily swapped between machines.
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Re: Castle Front (5 cents). What do you guys think?

Postby nvmos2 » Fri Oct 25, 2019 7:14 pm

Returning to the original topic of this thread:

Nice Castle Front!
It's an iconic slot of its day.
It looks to me from the photos that the wood sides are a different shade from the base.
Can't say for sure from photos, but condition of the wood looks like..... IMO..... the wood base is original with replacement sides.
Nothing unusual for a slot refurbished after all these years; like new reel strips
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Re: Castle Front (5 cents). What do you guys think?

Postby christopheb » Thu Nov 07, 2019 4:51 am

nvmos2 and mechanic : thank you both very much for your kind replies !
(Sorry for the delay - I did not mean to remain silent, but I was abroad for a while, then away from the hobby).

I think I'll let that one pass for the moment.

Thanks again.
Christophe
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