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I found a card in an old slot mills machine the says: CERTIFICATE OF MANUFACTURE which was attached to every genuine Mills machine when it was shipped. Has anyone seen these before? I don't believe it was copyrighted but I don't want to post any pictures until I know for sure.

it is not copyrighted.
nothing for the old slots was ever copyrighted.
some things were patented, but very few, due to the legality of gambling machines.
you can post with out worry.
no one from the mills family will bother you.

oldslotman wrote:I found a card in an old slot mills machine the says: CERTIFICATE OF MANUFACTURE which was attached to every genuine Mills machine when it was shipped. Has anyone seen these before? I don't believe it was copyrighted but I don't want to post any pictures until I know for sure.

Is it a blue tag that was attached to the handle? I think I have had a couple of machines with those.

Dave wrote:

oldslotman wrote:I found a card in an old slot mills machine the says: CERTIFICATE OF MANUFACTURE which was attached to every genuine Mills machine when it was shipped. Has anyone seen these before? I don't believe it was copyrighted but I don't want to post any pictures until I know for sure.

Is it a blue tag that was attached to the handle? I think I have had a couple of machines with those.

No it is a white tag that is about 4 by 8 inches. It has a place for the serial numbers to be written in. It says: This is to certify that this machine, Serial No.___________ is a genuine Mills Bell expressly designed and manufactured for us exclusively. BELL-O-MATIC CORPORATION, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. Exclusive National Distributor: Mills Bell Products. This is a specimen of our " Certificate of Manufacture" which is attached to every genuine Mills Bell when shipped, your assurance of receiving the real thing. And it has the MILLS NOVELTY COMPANY CHICAGO, U.S.A. red seal

A number of years ago, I bought 3 new in the box Hi Tops, two were Black Golds and one was a maroon Jewel Bell. They had never been opened or had a nickel go through them. They had been boarded up under a stair well in the home of an old operator. According to the shipping label, a total of 11 machines were shipped together froms Mills. They was an almost brand new 25 cent Mills Poinsettia and a Watling single jackpot Blue Seal there also. The Hi Tops all had those certificates in the cash boxes with their serial numbers on them along with a couple of parts sheets with prices and some other stuff. I'm sure those certificates were with all Mills machines of that period but few were ever saved. Anything with the Bell-O-Matic decal would likely have had them but probably not the earlier machines.

Watlingboy

watlingboy wrote:A number of years ago, I bought 3 new in the box Hi Tops, two were Black Golds and one was a maroon Jewel Bell. They had never been opened or had a nickel go through them. They had been boarded up under a stair well in the home of an old operator. According to the shipping label, a total of 11 machines were shipped together froms Mills. They was an almost brand new 25 cent Mills Poinsettia and a Watling single jackpot Blue Seal there also. The Hi Tops all had those certificates in the cash boxes with their serial numbers on them along with a couple of parts sheets with prices and some other stuff. I'm sure those certificates were with all Mills machines of that period but few were ever saved. Anything with the Bell-O-Matic decal would likely have had them but probably not the earlier machines.

Watlingboy

The machine it was in I believe at one time was a Black Gold but had been repainted. The jackpot had been removed and a piece of mirror put in its place and this cerificate was used as a backing on the mirror.

From memory, Mills (in whichever guise they were immediately post WWll) issued Certificates of Authenticity with their genuine new Black Cherry machines due to the plethora of others' melted down and recast pre-war models cast into Black Cherry lookalikes that were flooding the newly-open market.

Refer to some Bueschel or the 'Collectors Treasury...' book.
andydotp

I just hope this doesn't end up on ebay as a means of claiming that a repo is a genuine machine.