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Picked up a Poinsettia that was in decent shape, but the paint wasn't good, and the reel strips were faded terribly. Gave it the once-over, re-chromed the handle, polished/bead-blasted the aluminum, replaced some internal and external rusty stuff, and gave it a bath. The only thing I didn't do is re-plate the coin entry...but looking at it, I'll probably do that as well. This stuff is fun.

very nice!

Beautiful job; the Poinsettia is a true classic!
For clarification, was the handle originally chrome or nickel plated?

Although chrome was being done at the time this machine was made, the handle was nickel plated and not chrome.

Watlingboy

The handle had what was left of nickel plating, so I figured chrome would hold out better. And, I think the coin entry was nickel plated as well, it just seems chrome would be more durable.

I'm wondering if anyone has plated their parts with the black nickel-chrome?

Chrome is more durable and is struck on top of nickel however nickel is very hard and you would never be able to play that machine enough to put any visible wear on it. Also nickel has a nice warm look to it where chrome has a blue cast to it. The head was originally nickel plated also. I'm at a little bit of a loss about the black chrome question. Bill, Midcoast, Dave and myself has been lobbying for people to keep their machines as original as possible and restore them to as close to original condition as possible, so why would anyone plate any parts with black chrome. People are all over a dealer in another thread here for doing things similar to that, i.e. putting feet on machines, plating things that shouldn't be plated, etc.

Watlingboy

Watlingboy is right about the plating issue, and I have been very adamant about this subject, through my entire
collecting years. Chrome plating may look tits to some people, but it was not used on any of the early machines.
Most of the chrome era on slots, mainly started with with Jennings. All early cast iron machines, either had polished
nickle, or oxidized copper plating. If you were to restore a Victorian Upright, and chrome plate the castings, it may
look more glitzy to some, but it does look way overdone to a purest. When you see enough machines that are plated
incorrectly, you will soon learn the difference. Nickle Plating has a warm yellow hue to it, and chrome plating has a
bright blue hue. The only other finish that I have used on an early machine, was satin nickle, and that was only on
less than a half dozen. One was at the request of the owner of a Freund "Tric-It" that I restored many years ago, as
he wanted the plating to look more like 'old original', that was in need of polishing. I thought it looked rather well
when it was completed. Another thing that some so-called restorers were doing in the past, was over-doing the
finish on a wood cabinet. I have seen many quarter-sawed oak cabinets on Victorian Uprights, that looked like they
had been submerged in urethane after the finish stain was applied. Talk about 'over-done', they were so bright and
shiny, like glass, that you could virtually comb your hair in the reflection. And doing that to a Mahogany case looked
even worse. Especially if the finish was too red. Even today, I still see the cases on many three reelers, that are way
too shiny. So, all you serious collectors in this hobby, let's keep the plating 'period-correct'.

Points well taken. Black chrome has never been on antiques, and nickel plating was probably the most popular.

This forum should probably have a separate section on restoration techniques. This would help a great deal for guys like me who haven't been in the game very long, and noobies as well.

New recruits in this hobby need to understand the necessity of keeping antiques antique. At least before the "butcher" takes a stronghold.

So, Dave, suggestion: RESTORATION AND MAINTENANCE addition to the forum...?

SLOT DYNASTY wrote:. So, all you serious collectors in this hobby, let's keep the plating 'period-correct'.

That's good advice and I intend to live by it. But I have a question. What about the Award Card bezel? Did they originally chrome those, or nickel plate? And, seems like the aftermarket parts are either chrome or polished stainless steel.

My question is, regarding trim pieces, what is acceptable, and what is collector-desirable? I recently had a few of these on different machines where I replaced them with aftermarket parts, then decided to take the original mostly-badly-pitted pieces and send them out for chrome plating. I had two trim pieces on a Bell Boy trade stimulator, both badly pitted, and put the originals back on, albeit freshly plated. Made the machine look much better, but it's not "as-found" anymore. Still, the bad pitting cast a bad light on the otherwise nice machine.

RameGoom wrote:
....

So, Dave, suggestion: RESTORATION AND MAINTENANCE addition to the forum...?

Done!

An area dedicated to repair and restoration has been created.