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Looks like this could be the real thing. A true Golden Nugget. Ebay items 141718230961 and 351453879767

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-MILLS-G ... 20ff1097b1

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-MILLS-S ... 51d4489dd7

Interesting isn't it. These will sell before the auction ends if they are real which they appear to be, but I have never seen a real one in person.

Wonderful-Wonderful!
You can't get any more Original than these two "Golden Nuggets". Even though the half-top is a bit rough, everything
is there, and correct. Love the fact that the seller has a ton of pix. You will NEVER see pix like these, when the FAKES
are on the block. You can even see the detail of the etched award plates. Unlike the screen-printed repros. Hope the
seller does well with these, as they DO NOT turn up very often. Maybe one or two of our Forum members will bag them.

The dolls version appears to have lots of wear with visible signs of abuse . Missing part of the bonnet casting , hammer marks present in castings , pry marks on back like someone has worked this machine over pretty good .
The other fancy front version I see what appears to be lots of replacement nuts , bolts , and springs on the mech . No telling for sure . But just an observation that I see in the photos .

Wow,
This is very original machine, one major factor on these machines was the single cherry payout, that was first introduced on the Mills Chrome Bell. this feature was a real breakthrough in player appeal. And every casino wanted it on their machines, and although the Golden Nugget machines were a special order item, Mills put the single cherry feature on them.

It should bring a substantial price from a knowledgable collector.

Freddy Bailey

Do you feel these machines are investment quality ? Personally I like the Aitkens style is the better of the 2
What are your thoughts ?

I think as far as the low top models are concerned, the original Golden Nugget models, must be the most collective, collectors seem to forget the volume of production of the various models that were produced, litteraly thousands per day, when a model was custom made at the factory for a specific casino or indeed a company such as the Tru-Mint Vending Company that was owned by the gangster Frank Costello, (Mills made a future pay model in a distictive cabinet for Costello, that could easily be identified by crooked cop's, when they were about to bust a location owner for the illegal operation of a gambling machine) these models were obviously produced in much lesser numbers, so they are obviously much rarer than a basic model with no story attached to them, and also produced in much larger quantities.

Regarding the Aikins Front, I really like this machine, and is obviously up there with more of a value than for instance a Black Cherry, Glitter Falls or the Chrome Bell, The low top models as they are commonly known as, were great work horses, the weight alone could deter any thief from stealing them from a location, and the reliability made them a top choice for operating by the street operators, that bought more machines than the rest of the casino's combined.

I would vanue the Golden Nugget model on Ebay at around $4,000 as against for instance an orioginal Black Cherry model at between $900 to $1300 tops. This ocf course is only my opinion.

Freddy Bailey

What years production run was the Aitkens style Gold Nugget ? I see a date stamp on the mech that says 10-14-63 ???????????

I believe that is a "service" or "rebuilt" tag. I believe the machine was from the early to middle 40's but converved to a Golden Nugget at a later date maybe the 1950's or 1960's. That maybe what that tag is for.

The date of 10-14-63 on the mechanism sticker, will be the date that the conversion to a "Golden Nugget" was done.
The new conversion serial of N254 is also present on the sticker, as well as the metal tag held on by a machine screw.
The original serial of this machine would be much longer, but only a portion of it is shown in one of the pix, and all
that can be made out, is a possible 54984, with both ends pealed off. That same number should be on the larger tag
above, but the hand-written images are not ledgeable in the pix.
On the other hand, the Half-Top model shows the original machine serial of 526772, on the case sticker, and has no
conversion sticker on the mechanism, but does have a 30 penciled twice on the horizontal cross bar, and a metal tag
at the end, with 56. Not really sure what that is all about.
I did speak with someone last night, that has an original conversion, in the Aikens Extra Bell model, but didn't discuss
if he had the conversion sticker on his mech., and what the original serial was in the case. Will have to cover this in
a later posting.
Both ebay machines are now over $2,000. Will be interesting to see what the they will hammer at.