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Hi Nick,
Welcome to the forum, hope you are keeping well, You know I hold you in highest regard even to the point that you are more knowledgable than Dick Bueschel when it comes to European made machines, but regarding the Firman machine (check out the handle, Mills never used this type of handle) on Ebay, I must beg to differ, The machine on Ebay was made by Firman Engineering Ltd in Nottingham (My home town) I used to go to Bert Firman's with my late father in the late 1940's, in fact the Firman jackpot was made originally by him to accommodate us British traveling showmen who wanted to convert the old Mills Gooseneck models to be able to give a jackpot containing the large English Penny Coin, it is said that after The Samson Novelty Company (The Holloway family) lost the Mills Distributorship after Jack Holloway died in 1937 it was given to Solly Shefras's Coin Amusement Machine Sales Co, Ltd located at 42 Bethnal Green Road, London.to cement the new alliance Mills Novelty produced their Chrome Bell made to operate on the Old English Penny, this was also the first machine by Mills that paid out two coins on a single Cherry on the first reel. It is further said that Solly Shefras sent the large Mills Jackpot assembly to Mills, Firman had first started putting this great jackpot on the Mills 1920's models well before Mills introduced their silent models in the early 1930's.
I knew all of the Holloway family and especially Harry, who retired from Samson Novelty in 1972 he then joined Stan Condor a close friend of the Holloway family and also a large operator who owned Stannite Automatics, Harry worked at Stannite up until his death in 1986, in fact Harry died in the Royal Free (Masonic) Hospital, the same hospital that my late father died in, in 1990. Samson Novelty Co, was named after the Samson Masonic Lodge in London. I have the original Scrapbooks that were kept by Harry Holloway, that was his hobby collecting Samson Novelty advertisements.
Regarding the machine on Ebay being introduced by Mills as the Egyption, Firman made several models with the Egytion theme going back once again to the gooseneck models.
Nic, send me your information, I will call you.
Best Regards.
Freddy Bailey