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Posts Tagged ‘antique’

Video of the Day: Restoration of Grandma’s Predictions

Posted in amusement park, Artifacts, video, tagged antique, arcade, Bob Yorburg, Cleveland Grandma, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, Grandma's Predictions, John Papa, National Jukebox Exchange on May 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Grandma’s Predictions and Zoltar at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, Coney Island, July 2012

The venerable, circa 1923 “Grandma’s Predictions” has been telling fortunes under Coney Island’s 1920 Wonder Wheel all her life. A couple of seasons ago a brand-new Zoltar was brought in to keep her company and proved very popular with visitors to the arcade. Hurricane Sandy soaked both of them, and decapitated poor Zoltar. A new Zoltar Speaks machine was promptly ordered and is already here, but Grandma, an irreplaceable antique as well as a good luck charm for the three generations of the Vourderis family who have owned the park, was sent off to be restored.

Last night these riveting videos of Grandma’s wax head getting “eye surgery” at National Jukebox Exchange appeared on YouTube. The octogenarian tarot card reader is also getting new wax hands cast from the original mold, according to arcade restorer John Papa. He appears in the video along with fellow arcade restorer Bob Yorburg, who told ATZ that Grandma will get a new wig, dress and cabinet, too. The rare arcade piece is known as the “Cleveland Grandma” by collectors since she was built by the William Gent Manufacturing Company in Cleveland, “Grandma’s Predictions” is expected to come home to Coney Island on Mother’s Day, where a welcome home party will be held at Deno’s Wonder Wheel.

Rare & Vintage: 1906 “La Boule Mysterieuse” Circus Toy

Posted in Artifacts, Auction, circus, tagged antique, circus act, La Boule Mysterieuse, Leon LaRoche, Mysterious Ball, tin toy, toy on January 28, 2013| 3 Comments »

La Boule Mysterieuse Tin Toy, 1906. Potter and Potter Auctions

Legend has it that circus contortionist Leon LeRoche took his inspiration for “La Boule Mysterieuse” from a popular gambling game that set up outside the show’s tent in Romania. After gamblers placed bets on one of several numbers, the showman let a ball roll from the top of a foot-high spiral, shouting as the ball made its way to the winning number. LaRoche’s legendary act, which was celebrated by this 1906 tin litho toy, had him scaling a 12-foot high spiral while inside a metal ball that rolled slowly and mysteriously upwards.

La Boule Mysterieuse Tin Toy, 1906. Potter and Potter Auctions

“If it had not been evident that the idea of the trick had come to him from seeing the spiral of the Turkish showman, one would positively have believed the whole thing to be a miracle,” according to LaRoche’s story in the 1928 book Star Turns. The trick was regarded as “an unfathomable mystery, a sudden stroke of genius. Everywhere the agents arranged performances of the Man of Wonder with his troupe.” LaRoche doubled the height of the spiral to 24 feet and by the time he began touring with Barnum and Bailey in 1896, the track was 30 feet tall.

“Pull the string on the toy and it duplicates his feat,” says the catalogue description for the antique toy, which was made in Paris by Fernand Martin. On February 2nd “La Boule Mysterieuse” will be on the auction block at Potter & Potter in Chicago. The pre-sale estimate is $800-$1,000 and the online sale already has bids.

Serendipitously, Tin Mania in the U.K. also has one of these rarities for sale and made the delightful video below to publicize it. The price is 1,119 GBP (1,889 US Dollars)

Up for Auction: Antique Arcade Games and Gambling Wheels

Posted in Artifacts, Auction, tagged antique, Chester-Pollard, coin-op game, gambling wheel, H.C. Evans, Horse Race Wheel, Play Football on January 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

1 Cent ‘Smiley’ Clown Skill Game. Victorian Casino Antique Auction, January 19-20, 2013

A plethora of vintage arcade games, slot machines and gambling paraphernalia will be on the auction block next weekend at Victorian Casino Antiques in Las Vegas. Online bidding is also available for the January 19-20 sale. Here are a trio of items that caught our fancy.

“Smiley” the Clown, the first post-World War II arcade game from Chicago’s Pioneer Coin Machine Company, has strong graphic appeal. In addition, it takes a lot of skill to win. Introduced in 1946, the game requires players to maneuver the ball through a circular maze.

5 cent ‘Play Football’ Arcade Game, circa 1924. Victorian Casino Antique Auction, January 19-20, 2013

“Be a Champion. Learn ‘the Kicks’ in Football!” The Chester-Pollard Amusement Company’s 1924 “Play Football” was a popular and fun nickel arcade game for two players. The idea was to score a goal for your team by pushing the handle to make one of the little soccer players kick the steel ball.

Among the gambling equipment in the sale is this H.C. Evans Horse Race Wheel complete with odds changer. Chicago’s H.C. Evans and Company was the country’s leading manufacturer of carnival and casino equipment for six decades. Its top of the line wheels include the Big Six, the Jumbo Dice Wheel and the Horse Race Wheel. The wheel measures 60 inches in diameter and approximately 87 inches high.