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THIS ONE IS REALLY BAD.
besides wrong handle, and silver strips, they did not even bother to put a pump in the machine.
\the other obvious tells are repro back door, chrome bonnet hold downs, repro cash bos, crappy reward card, no steel rods in the base, and, no vendor linkage cover.
i sent the seller an email:
"HI,
This machine is a total reproduction.
it is nor restored, it is reproduced.
please correct you ad description so some new buyer does not get burned on a fake machine.
thank you in advance for being honest, and, doing the right thing. "
we will see what happens... if anything.
here is a link to the ad:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1939-MILLS-25-C ... 7731206%26

Yeah...........but you forgot to mention about the famous word RARE he also used.
I get so friggin sick of seeing that word used, in well over 50% of eBay listings.
I have even seen many of our seasoned collectors using it. People seem to think that in using the word Rare, it is their reason for putting a ridiculous price
on the item. "Gimme a break people"!
Note: The word RARE can rightfully ONLY be used on an item that there are One to Three examples known to exist. In some cases, you may even push the
number to six known. BUT THAT'S IT!!!!!!!!!!! Wake Up! The next word in line after Rare, would be SCARCE, and that would cover up to a dozen or two
known. After that, the word is SHUTUP!
Like you mentioned to me on the phone before, about the time you punched in the word RARE in the eBay search engine, and it came up with over a
million or so listings, and still asked you to be more specific. Ha! What a joke. Sure shows you how many jokesters there are out there! Like the time
three or four years ago that a clown listed one of the most common machines there are in our hobby, a Groetchen "Imp". His listing header literally said
"RARE RARE RARE IMP SLOT MACHINE". I assumed that it was obviously the only one he had ever seen, but I dropped him a note anyway. I mentioned that
it was nowhere near Rare, and that there were thousands of them in collections, and that most had more than one. I also told him to check the other
listings. There were at least six others listed at the time. His price was even out-of-line. As I expected, there was no response. Oh Well!

The seller ended the auction "due to an error in the listing".

It seems the only rare item on eBay is a listing that doesn't say rare when it comes to collectibles. And how about the word "mint" another over used descripition.

Flebay has very strict guidelines that all sellers must follow.

They ensure that items are described accurately.
For example;
here is a 'MINT" Penny Smoke; item number 130976863016.
Although it has a hole drilled in the back,
is missing an award card and other miscellaneous parts,
replacement locks,
paint is gone/faded, and
needs new reel strips,
how could you possibly argue that it is not "MINT"?

i just sent the seller this email on the penny smoke machine:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MINT-ORIGINAL-G ... 1e7ed45328

HI,
First word in title is MINT.
Later, in description, you state EXCELLENT.
Although it has a hole drilled in the back,
is missing an award card and other miscellaneous parts,
replacement locks,
paint is gone/faded, and
needs new reel strips,
how could you possibly consider this machine to be mint, excellent, or even close?
Incomplete / in need of restoration would be a more accurate description.

Pardon me while I butt-in on this Penny Smoke caper.
You notice that he mentions having the bid on a set of reel strips for this machine, that he will include with the sale.
First - The reel strips he has the bid on, are in crap condition, compared to his, that only needs a small section replaced.
Second - The strips in question belong to the Vegas Butcher, that raped them from a good machine, that will be Bastardized.
Third - The high bid on the Penny Smoke at present, is the same Vegas Butcher. Rather comical! If he wins the machine, this
will surely be another Penny Smoke to go "UP IN SMOKE", like several others have in the past. He has literally Destroyed more
Groetchen machine variations than I can count. He has ground the name out of the top casting of many, to make up his 'Fantasy
Phonies'. Hopefully one of our ligit collectors will win the machine, and keep it from destruction.

How ironic is that:
If the seller of the Penny Smoke wins the reel strips from the Vegas Butcher and then the Butcher wins the Penny Smoke,
the Butcher gets paid for the reel strips, then gets them back for free and can sell them again, and, sadly, has the Penny Smoke to destroy by turning it into a fantasy machine to unload on some unsuspecting newbie.

A while back, I paid top dollar for a Hol-e-Smokes just to keep it out of the hands of the Vegas Butcher (and am very happy with it).
If I didn't have a Penny Smoke, I'd do it again with this Penny Smoke.
Hopefully, someone who would like a Penny Smoke will step up to the plate and keep it from getting butchered.
Although it is nowhere near "mint", it is in good condition and would be an easy restore.

I RECIEVED A REPLY TO MY EMAIL TO THE SELLER OF THE
"MINT ORIGINAL GROETCHEN PENNY-SMOKE TRADE STIMULATOR..WORKS EXCELLENT.."
THAT IS MENTIONED IN THIS POST ABOVE, AND, CURRENTLY FOR SALE ON EBAY

HERE IS THE REPLY I RECIEVED:

Dear midcoastvintage,

FEEL FREE TO NOT BID ON IT..THANKS FOR THE CRITIQUE

In a message dated 8/28/2013 12:49:35 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, <email address removed per ebay policy> writes:

Looks like the seller of the Penny Smoke is a man of low standards.