Slot ID help and color schemes

[altort]

Do not drill out the back door locks or brake the reel glass, if the revamp slot jack pot conversion is the one that was on ebay, that has a Yale lock easy to pick open, if you don't have the skill to pick it, any lock smith will be able to do that for you, those original Yale locks are getting to be pretty scarce and the later Mills Bell lock will not fit the back door with out modifying the door to fit and that has a real nice wood grain back door , not sure about the Wolf head slot on what lock is on that back door I did not see that slot, most likely a Bell lock hard to pick, post some pictures of that back door to be able to tell.

Once you get in to the slots post some pictures of the mechs may be able to help you with the problem you are having.

[nvmos2]

Good advice from altort!
You should be aware that, like many collectible hobbies, we have a lot of bogus, poorly restored, and reproduction trade stimulators and slots.
Among the many repros is the Wolf's Head; if the seller was asking $900 for the one you got, it is either a good deal on an original or a fair deal on a reproduction (IMO).

[72gunner]

Here are the backs of each machine and the serial stamp on the wolfs head machine

[flyingfred]

That appears to be a Yale lock that any decent locksmith can open.

-Fred-

[altort]

The jack pot conversion slot has the original YALE lock, have a lock smith cut you a new key for it simple lock, would be nice if the previous owner could find the original YALE key for it it should have bee stamped MILLS on it, the Wolf Head as a replacement lock not stamped YALE, the correct lock for that lock would have been a BELL lock not a YALE lock, the hole is larger diameter for the BELL lock and the lock is secured from the inside with two screws not carriage bolts like the other slot, still a simple lock to pick open mot a high security lock like the BELL lock.
Have the lock smith open that for you as well, don't drill it out and get all the metal shavings inside the mech, the BELL locks are easier to find.
Once you get them open you should be able to figure out what is keeping the mech from cycling properly.

[72gunner]

Thanks. I'm going to give it a try tonight and see if I can't pick these locks.

Side note, how do you date slot machines? The JP conversion is #500 and is marked in 2 our 3 places. The Wolfs Head is #183383. Just curious for my own knowledge on how you rate them. What resources would you recommend I have for slot machines?

Thanks in advance

[72gunner]

I managed to pick the yale lock on the jp conversion today. The other is not so easy...

Here's the inside

[altort]

Good going on getting the lock open now you just need to get a key cut, keep working on the other you will get it open.
Looking at the pictures of the mech it looks like the vertical finger for the bells is going through all three disks,
are there three bells or two bells and a bar lined up on the pay out line showing through the reel glass?
I went back to the first pictures you posted of the slots to see what symbols were lined up in the picture and see that there is a plum cherry and lemon lined up on the pay out line, not a winning combination, but then I noticed that the Wolf head slot has the same symbols lined up on the pay out line, that is extremely l unusual, the odds of having two slots stopping on the very same combination has to be like 10000 to 1, I would have to say that the seller staged the that for the pictures, so he must have had the keys to stop the clock to line up the reels, strange that now he does not have the keys.

[72gunner]

That's an interesting observation on the reel placement. I never paid it any attention...I just went back thru original pics and they were both set at plum, cherry, lemon. Crazy weird.

I finally got both backs off the machines. I was hoping for some old buffalo nickels or rare coins but only found Jefferson nickels from the 1940s thru the 1970s....a handful of early 80s.

I'll post some pics for your thoughts on original vs repro.

[72gunner]

More pics, lions head, wolfs head... which is correct name