Hello All,
I bought this Mills Blue Bell High Top earlier today for $1,000 from a nice guy up in Pennsylvania. I was looking for something in it's original state rather than a completely restored machine which is what my Mills "777" is. I always liked the colors on the Blue and Yellow Blue Bells.
I'm taking it to Larry Debaugh here in Maryland to give the internals a check up. Everything seems to work well so far.
Some questions to the more experienced collectors. Although it is probably preference, I wanted to ask with the condition of this machine if a complete restoration be a good idea, or just get it looking as good as possible with what is there?
I was going to try Blue Magic Metal Polish for the nickel areas of the machine.
Looking at the award card in the pictures, is the card oxidized and cannot be restored to black? Secondly, what would you recommend for polishing the award card?
Any advice, feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Lastly, what would be the date of origin of the machine with a serial number of 593541?
Thanks,
Brad