. I said no, why do you ask. She said she heard that I was looking for old slot machines and she has one in her attic. She said she didn't know what kind it was except that it took dimes and had cherries on it. I asked her if the coins went around in a circle (i.e., ROL-A-TOP) or did they go straight across the top of the machine. She said she "thought" they went straight across the top. I told her she probably had a Mills Black Cherry or Mills Bursting Cherry and I was interested in at least looking at it. She told me where she lived (out of state about 600 miles from me). I informed her that I would be passing through her town in about a month and would call her back when I knew for sure when I would be in town.
About a month later my wife and I started our vacation. The day we left I called the lady and told her I would be in town that night and would like to look at her machine. She said, "Oh today is bad, I have company and I do not want them to know about this machine". She asked if I could stop back on my way home from vacation. I told her that we were taking a different route home and I would not be back in her town for quite some time. She said OK, call me around 8:00 tonight and my company should be gone.
We arrived in her town about 5:00 that afternoon. My wife and I decided to go get a bite to eat. At 8:00 I called the lady back, she said her friends had left and gave me direction to her home. We drove up to her home and I rang her door bell. This lady opened the door, checked me out, looked up and down the street, and said come in.
She then took me up to her attic, opening the door I saw this
.
I am sure my knees buckled a little bit and I tried to show a "poker" face but I am sure some of my excitement showed. We talked about the machine quite a bit. She said her husband got it about 30 or 40 years ago from his club and she has been paranoid about it ever since.
I then asked her what she wanted for it. She smiled at me and said, "what will you give me for it?". God, what do I do
? If I low ball her she might throw me out. If I give her a realistic figure she might want to hold on to it and try to get more. Decisions, Decisions... Since I really wanted that machine I informed her that I had several price guides out in the car and why don't I go get them. She agreed and after looking at them (and doing some haggling) we agreed upon a price 
.
I was then ready to load up the machine and she said, let me call my grandson to help you with that heavy thing. I said that wasn't necessary (I wanted to get it in my car ASAP!). She said don't be ridiculous, he lives only about 10 minutes away. I reluctantly agreed. During the next 10 minutes we talked more about her husband and slot machines in general.
Ten minutes went by and her grandson showed up. He helped me down the steps with the machine. As we were getting it in my car he said "Ya know, a friend of mine has one just like this". I gave him my card and told him to talk to his friend and call me if he wants to sell it. I also told him that I would pay him a finder's fee. I have not heard anything yet, but you never know.
I don't known how many console models were made (I don't think there were that many), the serial number on the console frame is #7.
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