Mills Novelty 'Wizard' penny fortune-teller cabinet, 1929

Coin-operated fortune-teller by Mills Novelty Co., Chicago. Feeds a penny, dispenses one of 96 printed fortunes.

Price

$14,500

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Ledger entry

SKU: MS-CU-1001
Era: 1900-1950
Condition: Working; last serviced 2022. Cabinet refinished c. 1975, mechanism entirely original.
Dimensions: 72 in. H × 26 in. W × 22 in. D
Weight: 310 lb
Provenance: Deaccessioned from a shuttered penny arcade on the New Jersey shore; in the same family from 1962 until 2023.
Category: Curiosities & Oddities
Tags: automatoncoin-operatedmills-noveltyarcade1929

On this piece

A Mills Novelty Company 'Wizard' cabinet from 1929, refinished in the mid-1970s but with all original mechanism, coin mechanism, and fortune drum intact. Feed a penny, a small envelope emerges bearing one of ninety-six printed fortunes originally set in metal type at the Mills works on Fullerton Avenue. Operates on 110V through the original step-down service transformer, which we have had inspected and would encourage you to have inspected again after shipping.

The glass reserve at the crown of the cabinet contains the turbaned bust of the Wizard himself, whose eyes are said, by children of a certain age, to move. They do not. He is nevertheless the most photogenic thing on our floor.

Supplied with roughly 400 unused fortune slips in the original Mills-printed style, a spare drive belt, and a service pamphlet reproduced from the 1931 dealer manual.