Genco - VERY RARE - Only a few known to exist. It looks like a trade stimulator but is really a slot machine AND a gumball vendor.
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Below is an article that the late Dick Bueschel wrote about this machine. This is the only article I could find about this machine.
Some pages back, 14 to be exact, we described the C&F BABY GRAND first made by Field in Peoria in 1932, then moved to Chicago in 1933. We posed the question: "Let's.... assume the F.' in C&F was Field. If so, who was 'C'?"
The answer may or may not be in this colorful 1934 automatic payout Baby Bell machine which is decidedly unique and apparently extremely rare. The strange fact is that this is the only time you'll ever see the Genco name on an automatic payout slot. Before Genco produced the BABY GRAND the firm was deeply committed to pinballs and counter games. After that it was almost pinballs exclusively. So it was one year, and one model, for payout Bells.
Compare this BABY GRAND to the previously described C&F model. You'll see the family resemblance right away, only now a bulging covered payout cup has been added to an extensively cleaned up cabinet Other differences include an integral marquee at the top with a "1C Ball Gum 1 C" legend — typical for a counter game but literally unheard of for a payout slot and various approaches to an Art Deco trim. Then there's that play handle. What a wiggling wonder. The final touch is the visible gumball window, for this is a vender, among a lot of other things.
Who was Genco? If you are a pinball wizard the name would drip from your lips like fine wine. So would the name Gensberg. In a way it's a tale of four brothers, starting with Lou. Back in 1930 Louis W. Gensburg was making charms in a small loft factory space on North Ashland Avenue in Chicago. His big customer was another Chicago outfit that made a confection called "Crackerjack", one of the tastiest and most successful junk food products of the late twenties and early thirties. Listen to the words of the song "Take me out to the ball game". A later verse says: "Buy me some peanuts and Crack-er-jack. I don't care if I never get back (to work, or home, or whatever)." Then his brother Dave said "let's make counter games" or something to that effect, and joined him in 1930. Then his brother Meyer did too, and the Genco (For Gensberg Company) Manufacturing Company was born, to become a significant factor in the business of making pinball games. Then brother Sam came along and set up his own pinball company called Chicago Coin Machine Company. Some people believe it was ChiCoin that made BABY GRAND.
The "trades" of the day saw it differently. The March 1934 issue of THE COIN MACHINE JOURNAL solidly credits the machine to Genco, and
goes on to say, "A new type pay-out machine which might be classed in the Bell field but which is an entirely new construction is the pay machine by Genco which attracted unusual attention". Maybe Sam's, too! But maybe not
Back to assumptions. If Sam Gensberg staked Field to the engineering and maybe production of the BABY GRAND, ChiCoin could be the "C" in C&F. We know the Genco, and maybe the Chicago Coin, model is later. |
Mills Baseball
Has all the good stuff. Scroll to right to read about it.
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Mills Baseball slot machines came with different features. This one has deferred pay and the mech unit is there and complete and also the parts on the sub base are complete. Quite often part or all of this feature is missing. Nice reel strips. Nice clean mech. Cabinet is very nice and has the gold stencil as original. I was unaware anyone was redoing the stencil when this machine was purchased, mid 80’s to early 90’s. I assume it has been redone as it is too nice to be original. Lithographed play field on the front is a nice original. Machine pays and plays as it should. It even still has the security door for the cash box. Overall it’s a very nice machine. |
