Penny play Caille Sphinx

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Penny play Caille Sphinx

Postby oldtimeslots.com » Wed Aug 20, 2014 1:40 pm

I just picked up this Caille Sphinx which isn't to unusual but my first in penny play. I aquired the machine from a 90 plus year old gentleman whom it was given to in 1955. Now this man had it in his home in play from 1955-2002 so his kids and grand kids could play it and it worked the whole time and then 12 years ago he moved and the machine sat in his garage for the last 12 years. He read an article about me from 10 years ago and kept the article with the machine. So now about a month ago he contacted me and said he's moving and needed to let go of his slot machine, it takes pennies and it works. The time in the garage was not kind to the paint however the wood is in great shape. I told him I was interested and low and behold he contacted me yesterday and wanted to bring it out. It does work, it has original reel strips, awards card (marquee), cash box, back door with 80% of the original instructions and original lock and key. Here is the kicker, it has a ballgum vender mounted to the front of the machine under the jackpot. However it does not have the internal parts to vend gum balls, it is just the original Caille Ballgum vender housing including the glass. I have not seen one of these machines, no pictures in books or the internet.
Does anyone have any info on this machine?
It is really cool and it can be filled with gumballs..
Check out the pictures.
I am entertaining offers at this time.
Please PM me if you are interested.
Thanks,
Bill
Attachments
ballgum front.jpg
side view ballgum vender.jpg
front.jpg
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Re: Penny play Caille Sphinx

Postby mechanic » Wed Aug 20, 2014 2:11 pm

An interesting piece!!! Looks like an old operators add on. Some added custom made units to existing machines so they could be considered vending machines and not gambling machines. I have seen many Caille machines that vend but never seen that one. To see if it is original equipment you will need to remove the vendor unit and look for Caille's 5 digit part number as all original castings have it. Hope it is!!!!
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Re: Penny play Caille Sphinx

Postby marsonion » Wed Aug 20, 2014 2:40 pm

I think it's odd that anyone at the Caille Bros. Co.-- which had a reputation for being a little on the image-conscious side-- would simply clap an add-on ball-gum vendor right across the faces of the bas-relief sphinxes on the front casting. I have a hard time believing anyone in design management would've been too thrilled with the result...

That black border groove on the add-on sure looks like it belongs with the jackpot design, though.

mechanic wrote:An interesting piece!!! Looks like an old operators add on. Some added custom made units to existing machines so they could be considered vending machines and not gambling machines. I have seen many Caille machines that vend but never seen that one. To see if it is original equipment you will need to remove the vendor unit and look for Caille's 5 digit part number as all original castings have it. Hope it is!!!!
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Re: Penny play Caille Sphinx

Postby goodguy » Thu Aug 21, 2014 5:12 am

iNTERESTING MACHINE, PLEASE ADVISE ME WHAT YOU ARE ASKING-I am not a tire kicker,
i collect penny slots. I like the condition this machine is in.
E-MAIL TO madamzita@aol.com 917 930 5924 thanks murray gottleb
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Re: Penny play Caille Sphinx

Postby oldtimeslots.com » Thu Aug 21, 2014 6:34 am

Thanks to every one that chimed in. I did remove the vender and there is a 5 digit Caille part number of 40811 on the inside. There is a shute on the left side that would have delivered the gumball into the jackpot pay out cup.
According to the last published Slot Machine Price Guide 1997-1998 by Daniel Mead it lists a Silent Sphinx Ball Gum Vender 1933. When I pulled the mechanism out to remove the vender I did notice that the cast coin head on the mech is marked 10 cent. Not quite sure if Caille used the same coin head for both penny and dime play but there is no evidence of any machining being done to the coin head to open it up slightly for pennies and the payouts are correct. This appears do be a correct factory released machine.
Thanks,
Bill
Attachments
part number.jpg
ballgum front off.jpg
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Re: Penny play Caille Sphinx

Postby tsparts4u » Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:18 am

My brother also has a penny Silent Sphynx machine that once had this gum vender on it as it has the cut out on the coin cup as your machine has. He sure would like to complete his machine some day if anyone has that casting around and is interested in selling it.
Regards,
Jerry
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Re: Penny play Caille Sphinx

Postby marsonion » Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:05 am

Thanks for all of these pictures! Can you tell me what exactly was done to the front casting to adapt this vendor to the machine, or post a picture of that? It looks like they must've drilled holes right through the sphinx figures' jaws to bolt the thing on. How did the vendor interact with the mechanism? is there some penetration at the bottom center of the front casting for some sort of gumball release lever which engages the drive bar or something? Surely this thing didn't dispense gumballs for free.


oldtimeslots.com wrote:Thanks to every one that chimed in. I did remove the vender and there is a 5 digit Caille part number of 40811 on the inside. There is a shute on the left side that would have delivered the gumball into the jackpot pay out cup.
According to the last published Slot Machine Price Guide 1997-1998 by Daniel Mead it lists a Silent Sphinx Ball Gum Vender 1933. When I pulled the mechanism out to remove the vender I did notice that the cast coin head on the mech is marked 10 cent. Not quite sure if Caille used the same coin head for both penny and dime play but there is no evidence of any machining being done to the coin head to open it up slightly for pennies and the payouts are correct. This appears do be a correct factory released machine.
Thanks,
Bill
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Re: Penny play Caille Sphinx

Postby mechanic » Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:27 am

WOO HOO!!!!!!! Looks like a home run, the numbers on the casting are correct!!! Another possibility is that it was either an experimental or prototype model as Caille sold off those machines when they were done with them. This is why you can get more than one variation on the same model of Caille machine. This made it both a nightmare for the mechanic as well as the collector now. CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Re: Penny play Caille Sphinx

Postby watlingboy » Thu Aug 21, 2014 10:08 am

Almost every, if not every manufacturer that made penny slots also offered a model with a gumball vender. Machines with venders are less common than without. Because the penny Sphinx is rare anyway, it would stand to reason that surviving examples with that gumball vender would be even rarer. There are more than a couple of production machines that no literature exists and few surviving examples. Only one piece of literature has ever been found on the Paces Races and nothing has every been found that has the Superior Confection name on it. Nothing has been found on the 2 Pulls for a Quarter Rol-A-Top and only 3 machines have ever surfaced. So I have no doubt that you have a production machine that had very low sales and very low survival rate.

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Re: Penny play Caille Sphinx

Postby oldtimeslots.com » Thu Aug 21, 2014 11:18 am

Thanks guys for your input once again. So yes the front casting is drilled right through the Sphinx's heads under their lips.
The first thing I thought too was there should be another hole in the casting for a trip lever to allow a gumball to be despensed but there is not. I believe it must have despensed for free.
I spoke with the brother of a member this morning that has the same machine without the vender but it has both holes where it mounted. He purchased the machine with hopes to find the vender because he has an advertisement for the machine with the vender so they must have been a Caille offering.
The depensing unit if it is truely a free depenser would not be that difficult to fabricate if one wanted it to do so. I would like to take on the task but I am a dealer not a collector so I will leave that to the end user.
By the way Watlingboy, I don't know if the Two Pull RAT that I sold at the Chicago Show back in 2004-05 was one of the 3 known to surface so if not maybe there is 4!
Thanks,
Bill
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