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Vintage Robot Fortune Teller from the U.K.


roboz

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Back from exile , cam across this unique robot coin operated fortune teller made in England

uses the English Penny & finalized a deal for it . Had some trepidation as I'm still a novice in

collecting coin ops but this seems like a rare crossover piece

From a few collectors they seem to feel the machine is a 1930's -40's piece based on the fact that it used

a penny & most arcade operators wouldn't have made much profit from penny machines into the 50's & 60's

I will include a few pictures of the machine & hopefully some of you roboters from the UK can help ID this

particular machine. I have some reference photo's of other machines from the era but they do not look like

this machine at all. The functions are a back glass that illuminates a red & white bulb behind the eyes

the ears move & their is a roll mechanism that feeds the fortunes & a cutter chops them to dispense the fortune ticket

Anyway several of my coin op contacts like the machine & think it's unique but no one can ID it properly & there is no

Mfg markings. Back in the day many small craftsmen created these wonderful pieces in garage type set ups so unless

you have a distributor or mfg mark the history is tough to unravel

I am currently on the hunt for the machines from the reference photo's so if anyone comes across them I would offer a nice

finders fee

Cheers !

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John was able to find this photo of another 1930's British robot fortune teller though I can't tell if this is a trade show piece or coin op arcade piece

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Wow cool link Brian !! That robot looks almost the same as the one 'eric' in the first B&W photo

John I need to convince you to work on this machine. I will have it repainted & I don't think the head is painted correctly

aka I don't think the face has the original paint , If I restore it , it will be much more robotic looking from the 1930's

for sure

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Brian you would like these 2 machines , the Mutoscope is from 1899 when they were only leased to select locations

& the Mills Brownie Machine is Dated to 1900 , one of the very early Slot machines

Here is a description of the brownies who are featured on the litho'd tin wheel

"The Brownies is a series of publications by Canadian illustrator and author Palmer Cox, based on names and elements from Celtic mythology and traditional highland Scottish stories told to Cox by his grandmother. Illustrations with verse aimed at children, The Brownies was published in magazines and books during the late 19th century and early 20th century. The Brownie characters became famous in their day, and at the peak of their popularity were a pioneering name brand within merchandising."

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The clamshell mutoscope is gorgeous. I have one of the tin ones that amuses visitors.

I asked members of a group I belong to about the Magic Robot. This is what they had to say:

My guess is that this was produced by one of John George Brenner's companies (active from the '30s-'50s), such as Original Machine Manufacturers Ltd. Does it have any markings on it? J Brenner built a number of metal-constructed, floor-standing, fortune tellers in various 'future-science' guises. Comparing the card vending mech to that of a known Brenner machine might confirm this.

Consulting Arcades & Slot Machines, I see Original Machine Manufacturers Ltd. made a fortune teller called Robot King in 1935.
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The clamshell mutoscope is gorgeous. I have one of the tin ones that amuses visitors.

I asked members of a group I belong to about the Magic Robot. This is what they had to say:

Brian many thanks for researching . One of the things I will need is a fortune roll. Original would be great but reproduction would work too.

Perhaps you can inquire if someone knows of any fortune rolls available as I suspect they may have been used in various machines ( hopefully)

It would be fantastic if you were able to dig one up. I do have about 15 loose fortunes so in the worst case I can try & find a printer to produce one.

I believe the way the head on this machine is painted was probably done in the 60's in some weird attempt to update the look but before I go ahead

& change it I would like to get other opinions so as not to destroy any originality.

Also if there are any robot machines from that era available for purchase please put the word

out that I am interested !! Thx again !!!

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Here are the cutters up close. See if your friends can identify the card dispensing mechanics from these pictures I got from Ozzy.

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  • 6 years later...

Wish I would have gotten a screen shot 

do you remember what the movie was called ??

 

Anyway I FINALLY closed the deal on that robot fortune teller after 6 years! 

& it's going to the resto shop with my flying saucer machine 

 

I don't know how original it is with respect to Paint but I'd like to bring closer to a Mechanical Man Style of the period 

They did find an english penny in it BTW

 

I may do a custom roll for fortunes with my collection Tagged on the fortune card

Lots of Unknowns with this machine

 

If you want to migrate this Thread temporarily into robot talk The guy will post periodic Videos 

of the machine but we have to get a game plan settled on with respect to appearence functions etc etc etc

 

In robot talk I may be able to grab more ideas since more members will likely see it 

 

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