Nic Costa's Coin Machine Books

[automaticpleasures]

The expertise on this site never ceases to amaze - in this hobby knowledge means not only pleasure, but money- knowing a little more than the next person means you can make some shrewd decisions when buying. We are just inserting this to remind you that Nic Costa's published work is once more available and can be bought direct from Amazon (you no longer have to pay an exorbitant price for a copy of Automatic Pleasures). It is entertaining, and has been cited very favourably many times in other works by academics and enthusiasts alike.

Nic was around when many of the old time manufacturers were still alive and could still be interviewed, Dick Bueschel was a friend and fellow researcher and much information and many letters were exchanged between them concerning the early coin op industry.

After a long break Nic is back and researching for another book about the earliest days of the coin machine- a number of long held myths will be exposed and new facts revealed- the early industry was promoted and financed by leading members of the establishment on both sides of the Atlantic -fortunes were made, people were cheated, others falsely imprisoned, seedy grasping bankers and investors defrauding shareholders and the public- and a huge stock market collapse way back in 1893 as bad as that of the 1920's. All sounds very familiar doesn't it? Yet the machines came and totally transformed society. Both Queen Victoria and Admiral Dewey were certainly amused by them . In those days stealing from a machine was punishable by flogging!

Help wanted: by some miracle does anybody know the name of the company Charles Fey worked for when he lived in London before moving to the States?

Attached is a sample chapter from More Automatic Pleasures about Slot Machines, Gangsters, and Politicians in the 1920s and 30's.

The book also has feature articles (previously unpublished in the States) about the following US companies:


Bally- Moloney
Caille Brothers
Exhibit Supply Co- Meyer
Genco & Chicago Coin- Gensburg
Gottlieb
Groetchen
OD Jennings
Mills Novelty Company
1 Looking back at the birth of the Mills Company
2 How wise Herbert Mills capitalised on his owl
3 Aggressive marketing policy ensured success
4 An all embracing policy from Herbert
5 St Louis Show opened new operation
6 1904 Mills make music fit for a king
7 Mills move into cinema but vending lines still thrive
8 Arch-demon of the automatics industry is no ordinary machine
9 1933: Machine sales top million mark despite world recession
10 How Herbert Mills jumped on the jukebox bandwagon
11 How the giant was brought to its knees
Mutoscope
Pace
Post War Boom
Rockola
Seeburg
Watling
Williams
Wurlitzer

[Anglobritish]

Gentlemen,
If you have not got Nic Costa's "Automatic Pleasures-The History of the Coin Machine" then here is your chance to buy this well researched edition. I always said that if ever I wrote a book, I would want Nic to write the forward to it, well several years ago I started to write my book "All My Life......A Showman" and Nic in fact wrote the forward for the book. (After seven years this book is still not finished)

In the early 1980's this young journalist wrote numerous articles on the life and times of the European manufacturers and distributors, his articles were commissioned by the "Original" Coin Slot trade paper, that ran from 1966-1999 on a weekly basis (I have every copy of that publication) in Great Britain.

Nic did his research, he was lucky enough to meet and interview many of the old timers from the industry that were still around to talk to him, his articles were so popular that the American edition of Coin Slot magazine also ran his articles, and even encouraged him to write articles about the manufacturers and distributors from the U. S. A. this he did, and did it well, Nic and I, are still constantly in touch, in fact only today I received an email from him, (He told me he was basking in the Mediteranian Sun in Cypress where he now lives) he is helping me with my new book, that although is a fictional novel, it is based on a famous character from the industry.

So for all those collectors out there that want a book that as a lot of true facts about the coin machine industry, this book is a must for any collector.

I am proud to personally endorse any of Nic's work on this subject.

Freddy Bailey
The Official British Coin Machine Historian

[Anglobritish]

Gentlemen,
If you have not got Nic Costa's "Automatic Pleasures-The History of the Coin Machine" then here is your chance to buy this well researched edition. I always said that if ever I wrote a book, I would want Nic to write the forward to it, well several years ago I started to write my book "All My Life......A Showman" and Nic in fact wrote the forward for the book. (After seven years this book is still not finished)

In the early 1980's this young journalist wrote numerous articles on the life and times of the European manufacturers and distributors, his articles were commissioned by the "Original" Coin Slot trade paper, that ran from 1966-1999 on a weekly basis (I have every copy of that publication) in Great Britain.

Nic did his research, he was lucky enough to meet and interview many of the old timers from the industry that were still around to talk to him, his articles were so popular that the American edition of Coin Slot magazine also ran his articles, and even encouraged him to write articles about the manufacturers and distributors from the U. S. A. this he did, and did it well, Nic and I, are still constantly in touch, in fact only today I received an email from him, (He told me he was basking in the Mediteranian Sun in Cypress where he now lives) he is helping me with my new book, that although is a fictional novel, it is based on a famous character from the industry.

So for all those collectors out there that want a book that as a lot of true facts about the coin machine industry, this book is a must for any collector.

I am proud to personally endorse any of Nic's work on this subject.

Freddy Bailey
The Official British Coin Machine Historian