Rare Bridlington arcade machine to be sold in remarkable collection set to make thousands

Left: Auctioneer James Laverack gets his mind read by television rays! Right: The Wright & Son Climbing Monkeys slot machine - one of only a handful of survivors.

Mostly picked up for next to nothing – in some cases actually for nothing – the collection includes machines that are now so rare that just a handful are known to survive anywhere in the world.

The rarities include a Bridlington-made machine ‘Climbing Monkeys’, an amusement that enthusiasts have been hunting for years. This ultra-rare antique was made by Bridlington amusement firm R. Wright & Son in the late 1940s and is one of only a handful of survivors.

James Laverack of Louth auctioneers John Taylors said: “The collection was started back in the early 1970s when a North Lincolnshire businessman was offered a couple of old machines that had been in storage for years.

“Thinking he would donate them to a charity group, he paid twenty pounds for the pair and then found he had inadvertently become an antique slot machine owner when his charity said no thanks. It was the start of what would turn into a rescue operation.”

“At the time nobody was much interested in these old pre-decimalisation slot machines. Thousands were smashed up, dumped or, if there was enough metal involved, sent off to the scrapyard.”

One of the most valuable entries in the auction - a 1931 ‘Green Ray Television’ machine, an amusement that claims to be able to read your mind using ‘television rays’ – was given to the collection for nothing. It is today one of the rarest antique slot machines in the world. Less than a dozen are known to survive.

Mr Laverack said: “Almost all of the 25 machines in the collection spent their working lives in seaside amusement arcades, mainly along the Lincolnshire Coast, but also in Norfolk and East Yorkshire in a couple of cases”.

“The days when old out-dated amusement machines were simply dumped, smashed up or sent off to the scrapyard are long gone.

“Several of the most rare are expected to make £2,000-£3,000. Others have pre-sale estimates of £200-£1,200. We think the collection as a whole could make as much as £16,000.”

The auction starts at 10am on Tuesday March 12 and is to be webcast live. The viewing sessions at the Eastgate Saleroom in Louth are on March 10 and March 11, from 1pm until 3pm.

Visit www.johntaylors.com to view the catalogue and to find out more.