Restorations
We will be glad to help you if you have an old coin operated machine in need of a restoration. These old machines are certainly much more enjoyable to play in working order. We will also be glad to help you get your machine up and in running condition while keeping the original patina if that is what it needs. Some machines will clean up very nice without doing a complete restoration and a good original machine has what we call "The look". Keep in mind a machine that has survived in good original condition will be worth more to a collector as a best known original than a restored machine.
I always try to look at it in this fashion: if you had a 57 Chevy that looked to be part of a rust experiment and with a blown motor it would immensely enhance the value to completely restore it. Now on the other hand if you had a 57 Chevy with low miles and faded paint you may want to buff out the paint and do a little tune up on the motor but the last thing from your mind should be is to restore it. I think that is the case with just about every collectible you will ever come across such as cars, guns, coin-ops, etc.
We also do our restorations back in the correct fashion as when they we put together at the factory decades ago. We only plate with watts nickel which was used at the turn of this century and not the nickel they use today with all the brighteners. If you are looking for a so called "Hollywood" restorations you wouldn't want to send us your work. I listed a few of the complete restorations we have done which you can take a look at.
Typical Restoration
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This upright floor machine turned up on the 2nd floor of a saloon in Central City, Colorado back in the late 60's along with 5 other upright floor machines. The machine was poorly restored back in 1972 and was currently found in non-working condition with many problems. We had to completely disassemble the machine in order to un-restore some of the earlier restoration work and also repair the currently damaged parts. I have shown a few photos of the process of breaking down the cabinet and mechanism. This requires many man hours but the machine will soon look and play as good as the day it was placed on location. |
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Here's the upright cabinet with all the old varnish stripped off, completely broken down, and ready for sanding. |
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This photo shows the upright cabinet glued back together and ready for the finish coat. |
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The completion of the cabinet with the correct finish and Watling Jackpot glass |
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