Mills Four-7-Crown

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Mills Four-7-Crown

Postby joefaro » Fri Dec 12, 2014 5:31 pm

I bought this machine a few years ago and just got it working. From the serial number , I was told that it was made in 1964 ,it has Silver slipper symbols on the reel strips . I believe it came from that casino in Nevada but I bought it in Colo. Does any one have info on this and a possible value? Thanks for any help.
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Christmas lights and slot machines 007.JPG
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Re: Mills Four-7-Crown

Postby joefaro » Mon Dec 15, 2014 7:09 pm

I know I'm new to this board, but 32 people have looked at this post and no one is willing to reply ? Is this a bad machine, or a repo?
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Re: Mills Four-7-Crown

Postby Midcoast Vintage » Mon Dec 15, 2014 7:22 pm

Hi, it is not a bad machine.
It is not a repro. Being a four reeler, it would be too costly to reproduce.
your machine falls somewhere between uncommon, and, rare.
it is a seldom seen machine. i do not know how many were made, or how many are still in existence, but, it is definitely one you don't see every day.
a couple months ago there was someone looking for one on this forum.
as far as a value... i have no clue. you do not see them change hands often enough to have an established value.
yours appears to be in fine shape.
and again... not a bad machine, and, definitely nothing to be ashamed of.
welcome to the forum.
Last edited by Midcoast Vintage on Mon Dec 15, 2014 9:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Mills Four-7-Crown

Postby Billyzap » Mon Dec 15, 2014 7:59 pm

Never seen the machine before.....but do feel that it is from the silver slipper casino ....that would make the most sense.....any other markings? Is there a manufacturers name on it? How about showing the insides.....maybe someone out there can identify if from the workings.
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Re: Mills Four-7-Crown

Postby Billyzap » Mon Dec 15, 2014 8:02 pm

Oops didn't realize the you said it was a mills. Duh! Anyway it seems that a lot of members are more concerned with prewar machines and don't consider the postwar stuff worth anything.
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Re: Mills Four-7-Crown

Postby mechanic » Mon Dec 15, 2014 8:16 pm

A nice rare machine !! 4 Crowns was among the last of the old style mechanicals, it came after the owl series Hitops. The next models were the open fronts which used the same mech but opened in the front instead of the back. By the time the open fronts came around Mills had sold most of the old style Hitop series to Sega. Price is whatever someone is willing to pay for a rare last of the line machine.
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Re: Mills Four-7-Crown

Postby Anglobritish » Mon Dec 15, 2014 11:47 pm

Hi,
Find attached the back of the Parts Catalogue for the Mills machines from 1958, at that time Service Games of Japan (Sega) had taken over the exclusive distribution of the Mills parts that were then being made in Japan. Sega set up Service Games (Nevada) Inc. mainly to operate their Sega machines, at that time Club Speciality of Panama, was the Worldwide Exclusive distributor for all Sega products, that company was owned 100% by Marty Bromley, Dick Stewart and Raymond Lemaire, the original founders of Sega Enterprises Ltd, Dick Stewart was President of Service Games of Japan.

This company also operated more than 16,000 slot machines on all of the U. S. Military installations around the World during that time.

Freddy Bailey
Attachments
Service Games (Parts Price List) -1.jpg
Service Games (Mills Parts Catalogue) -24.jpg
Sega Mad Money.jpg
Service Games (Mills Parts Catalogue) -2.jpg
Sega Console Stand 1958.jpg
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Re: Mills Four-7-Crown

Postby joefaro » Tue Dec 16, 2014 4:25 pm

Thanks for every one responding, I'm new to the slots and never knew that Sega owned Mills. The machine has a sticker on the side that says Reno, but was it made in Japan? I have a sales flyer for the machine that says Bell-O-Matic Corparation, was this owned by Sega? I'll try to post the flyer and a photo of the reels showing the Silver Slipper bar.
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full page Four-7-Crown 001.jpg
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Re: Mills Four-7-Crown

Postby joefaro » Tue Dec 16, 2014 4:28 pm

Sorry, I didn't know how to attach both pictures.
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slot machines 001.JPG
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Re: Mills Four-7-Crown

Postby Anglobritish » Tue Dec 16, 2014 6:26 pm

Hi Joe,
Sega did not own Mills, they just bought up all of the parts for the High Top models that were in Reno, Marty Bromley never bought any sinking ships, he just played the part of the salvage company. previously he had bought a set of tooling from The Mills Industries, before Mills moved to Nevada because of the Johnson Act, that was in 1951, prior to building the Sega Bell (High Top) model in Japan, and later assembling it in Germany for his company Club Speciality of Panama, he built his Sega machines in the Gunter Wulff factory in Berlin, one, to take advantage of the tax incentives given to Gunter Wulff by the German Government and two,to supply the U. S. military bases in Europe where Marty operated, also the British slot machine market was opening up and Sega was the first there with new slot machines.

Mills and the Mob tried to get new Mills machines (See picture) into England in 1958, but Gabe Forman who started Las Vegas Coin Ltd in England in 1958 for New York Mob Chief Tony "Ducks" Corolla got deported in 1960, I was a lifelong friend of Gabe Forman, he sadly died in 2006 at the age of 88, I was at his 80th birthday party on Long Island in 1998, (see picture of my gift to him).

Regarding your Mills Four Crown crown model, it was built by Mills-Bell-O-Matic in Reno in 1952, it was made to compete with the Jennings four reel Buckaroo model, It was a revamped Mills Extraordinary with four reels, they also built the Mills Super Star that was a cross between the Mills High Top and a Jennings Sun Chief. These were the last of the Mills conventional models, they later got into bed with Jennings and tried to compete with the New Bally Money Honey that changed the slot machine industry for the next 40 years. Now there is IGT and Bally all over again.

Although your machine as not got great value, if I was a Mills slot machine collector, I would want it in my collection. A generous price in todays market I would estimate around $1200.

Freddy
Attachments
Gabe Forman's 80th Birthday Aug 22 1997.jpg
Mills-1.jpg
Mills Bell-O-Matic for the U. K. 1959.jpg
Mills Super Star 1950's.jpg
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