Jennings Sheffler

[jmac]

Hi Folks,
Can anyone ID this machine on ebay and give some background on the front casting marked "B D Novelties"?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1922-SLOT-MACHI ... 2036712972?

[watlingboy]

Sheffler was a small company in Los Angeles that made jack pot conversions fronts. They usually put their reel strips on their conversion machines also. The BD stand for, I believe, Bull Durham. Bill can firm this, I think Sheffler made the Bull Durham machines.

Watlingboy

[nvmos2]

Nice machine; I was just looking at it.

I believe Sheffler and BD novelties were 2 separate companies;
See 100 Slots Vol 3, page 89;
B D Novelties was the company of William (Bill/Bull) Durham, "a big time operator in L.A. (CA) plus a not so small time manufacturer."
His revamp jackpot fronts were patterned after the Rockola fronts.

See also Lemons Cherries and Gum, page 105;
Sheffler Brothers were also "major operators" and revampers in Southern CA.
I have a nice example of one of their jack pot fronts.

Apparently, this machine passed through the hands of both those revampers,
(or maybe Sheffler installed the BD front, who knows?).
It's beyond my time/capabilities to restore, but if someone takes it on as a project, I'd be a buyer once restored
(but the BIN price seems too high for current condition).

[jmac]

Thanks for the info and references. I think it is more of a project than I want right now, but was curious because I have a Mills Sheffler Star, and haven't seen any other Sheffler revamp machines before.

[Richard13]

Come on JMAC that's not so bad. It was used as a boat anchor for only a couple years. Some sandpaper a little glue and 100 hours of work and you have yourself a nice $1500 machine!