Inherited from my father

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Re: Inherited from my father

Postby atac » Tue Jul 07, 2020 8:16 pm

There are many more knowledgeable folks than me--on this forum and outside. I knew Hans and sold Hans some machines over the years. I never bought one directly from him. To my knowledge he used actual Jennings mechanisms, but I believe he often converted the denomination from lower denomination or foreign coinage to higher selling american coin denominations. Quite a quantity of 50c & $1 machines. There are several hallmarks--lots of Sun Chief light ups usually with tall handles and many with Nevada casino marquee, reel strips, and award cards. I just went to look at a $1 "Desert Inn" Sun Chief for sale locally that was purchased from "an old mechanic that picked up the pristine machine as they were switching to electronic machines". The machine was beautiful, but it screamed "Hans" to me and the owner said he traveled to Chicago (35 years ago!) where he bought the machine from Hans Havlicek. I told the guy the machine was gorgeous, but I was 100% sure it was never in the Desert Inn or any other casino (no drop through hole in the base was another clue). I recently listed for sale on this forum a standard chief cabinet and castings that I believe were Hans repros and I identified them as such.

I think you should enjoy your machine. The castings and plating of his that I've seen were of good quality. Today, to cast and chrome a set of castings is so cost prohibitive, it would cost more than the value of your machine, so your machine has decent intrinsic value as it is. We're all getting older--even the Hans machines will be antique soon! Just enjoy it!
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Re: Inherited from my father

Postby MONTI » Wed Jul 08, 2020 7:17 am

nvmos2 wrote:Monti;

Great info on the Sun Chief reproduction cases and the marque.
Is the stamping 3 9 64 Hans' birthday?
I thought he was older than that.
(Could it be his son's birthday?)


I am guessing here as I don't know for sure without researching Han's but he may have been doing the "Revamps" for lack of a better word in 1964 and it could have represented the date of the modification that was done!
Possibly someone that knew Han's personally would know when he actually started his "revamps"!
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Re: Inherited from my father

Postby MONTI » Wed Jul 08, 2020 7:49 am

atac wrote:There are many more knowledgeable folks than me--on this forum and outside. I knew Hans and sold Hans some machines over the years. I never bought one directly from him. To my knowledge he used actual Jennings mechanisms, but I believe he often converted the denomination from lower denomination or foreign coinage to higher selling american coin denominations. Quite a quantity of 50c & $1 machines. There are several hallmarks--lots of Sun Chief light ups usually with tall handles and many with Nevada casino marquee, reel strips, and award cards. I just went to look at a $1 "Desert Inn" Sun Chief for sale locally that was purchased from "an old mechanic that picked up the pristine machine as they were switching to electronic machines". The machine was beautiful, but it screamed "Hans" to me and the owner said he traveled to Chicago (35 years ago!) where he bought the machine from Hans Havlicek. I told the guy the machine was gorgeous, but I was 100% sure it was never in the Desert Inn or any other casino (no drop through hole in the base was another clue). I recently listed for sale on this forum a standard chief cabinet and castings that I believe were Hans repros and I identified them as such.

I think you should enjoy your machine. The castings and plating of his that I've seen were of good quality. Today, to cast and chrome a set of castings is so cost prohibitive, it would cost more than the value of your machine, so your machine has decent intrinsic value as it is. We're all getting older--even the Hans machines will be antique soon! Just enjoy it!


I agree that Han's work was perfect and he took special attention to detail in every way and as the demand for higher denomination coinage slots occurred during his reproduction process coinage of 50 cents or a Dollar was the norm with nothing under 25 cents!
Here below are photos of some of the molds he used for the castings!
In one of the photos you can see he did also manufacture mech parts!
MONTI
BACK BONNET
Casting mold bonnet.JPG

LOWER FRONT CASTING
Casting mold lower.JPG

UPPER FRONT CASTING
Casting mold upper.JPG

NEVADA CLUB LOGO CASTING
Casting molds 5.JPG

MECH FRAME CASTING
Casting molds mech.JPG

PAYOUT SLIDE CASTING
Casting molds slides 2.JPG
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Re: Inherited from my father

Postby Deb » Wed Jul 08, 2020 7:50 am

Is it possible that the set of numbers I have inside the machine are consistent with originals?

After doing research on Repros most don’t have original backs. This one does. Also the insides all look old and original.
Thanks for the information you have provided to me. Sometimes knowing and tracking down the history is fun. I will enjoy my machine either way. Need more rolls of quarters!
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Re: Inherited from my father

Postby MONTI » Wed Jul 08, 2020 7:58 am

Deb wrote:None of his children have that birthdate. nvmos2. Hans Havlicek birthday was 12/07/1939
From the information I’ve been researching tonight it appear as though my insides look original. Hard for me to tell but I’ve been studying a lot of pictures throughout the internet. The castings that he made he seemed to put his initials HH on them along with the numbers. I have numbers but no initials anywhere. My back is brown with a circle and a letter J in the center.

Did Hans have access to the original machines and parts that he could have put this one together? From what I understand my father actually went to his home to get this machine. Wish I could get more information on this machine. Is it a complete repro or could it be a mix?


DEB!
My guess is that it is a mix of parts, some original some reproduced by Hans but at any rate I agree with the other poster here on the forum that what you have if not 100% original from Jennings is a Great Piece of the Vintage Slot Machine Era and its following history and is a beautiful slot machine in a Great Looking Floor Console with the little shelf under the slot machine that was for the "Little Old Ladies" to place their purse while playing the slot machine! LOL
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Re: Inherited from my father

Postby atac » Wed Jul 08, 2020 1:46 pm

That repro Jennings bonnet picture that Monti posted shows the HH and his birthday with the other numbers...
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