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A Penny a Pack
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QUESTION:
 I
recently discovered what looks like a toy slot machine while browsing in
a local thrift shop. But instead of different types of fruit in the
window, it shows packs of cigarettes. The machine is painted bright red
and blue with silver accents. An emblem showing a sophisticated lady
smoking a cigarette appears on the front under the window. What can you
tell me about my new toy?
Thanks,
Jason
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ANSWER:
 Looking
much like a toy slot machine, trade stimulators were countertop machines
used to encourage shoppers to indulge in a game of chance which, in
turn, stimulated business.
Trade simulators became popular in American saloons during the 1880s.
Eventually, cigar, confectionery and general store owners saw their
potential for generating business and began using them. Produced in a
wide range of designs, these little machines originated around the same
time as slot machines. A player inserted a coin and pulled a lever. If
he or she got a winning combination, they won prizes of cigars,
cigarettes, candy and other goods. Some had beer reel strips for play
and payout tokens worth a mug of beer or five mugs or more, depending on
the winning token amount or what the payout card read. If a game didn’t
payout in tokens, players could exchange their payout card towards
purchasing products at the owner’s establishment. When certain states
prohibited gambling, business owners could use these machines generally
without fear of prosecution.
 The
Groetchen Tool & Manufacturing Company in Chicago, one of many companies
that manufactured trade stimulators, produced a variety of models from
1936 through 1948. One of their most popular was the “Liberty Bell” or
just “Liberty,” produced in the 1940s. It stood 10 inches tall, 9 inches
wide, and 10 inches deep and weighed about 14 pounds. The Liberty
dispensed tokens for l or 5 packs of cigarettes. Its three reels had
pictures of seven different brands of cigarettes, including Lucky
Strike, Camel, Kool, Wings, Chesterfield, Old Gold, and Twenty Grand.
The idea was to line up three packs of the same brand to win a free one.
On the front cover of the machine was the image of a sophisticated lady
smoking a cigarette in the Art Deco style.
 Inserting
a penny in the coin slot and pushing down the brown-knobbed handle would
cause the machine to fully function, then allow the handle to
pneumatically return to the raised position. If the player didn’t insert
a coin, the handle could still be pushed down, but the machine wouldn’t
function. The coin would drop onto the floor of the machine and the
reels would spin briskly and then lock into position. If three-of-a-kind
emblems appeared in the windows, a token would be dispensed from the
lower right side of the machine. The shop owner could collect coins from
the floor of the machine by removing the back door and tipping the
machine to the rear while taking care to insure that the reel mechanism
didn’t slide out.
 The
shop owner could avoid gambling restrictions since the pay-out wasn’t
cash, but rather a token that could be traded for merchandise. Some
tokens had the words “mints” marked on them. Players could exchange
these for cash "under the counter."
The benefit to the machine's owner was that customers would usually have
to insert more coins than the merchandise's retail value, thus netting
the owner additional profit. For example, where a customer could
purchase a pack of cigarettes outright for 15 cents, he might pay 20
cents or more before winning a pack from a trade stimulator
machine—doubling the profit for the owner when the wholesale price was
10 cents per pack.
 Groetchen
also produced the Mercury trade stimulator, made of cast aluminum. A
plaque reading "MERCURY, INSERT 1¢ TO SPIN REELS, TEST YOUR SKILL, LINE
UP THREE OF A KIND, FOR AMUSEMENT ONLY" appeared on the top of the unit.
The mechanism used brass-clad tokens, each marked "GOOD FOR 1 PACK OF
CIGARETTES." As with the Liberty model, its reel strips contained
emblems of cigarette packs. Groetchen’s “Ball Gum” machine released a
gum ball if the player didn’t win on the reels.
 Some
of Groetchen’s models, such as the “21 Vender,” were a little bolder,
featuring playing cards to play 21 on the reels.
To further hide that a machine gave winners cigarettes, which weren’t
allowed to be given as game prizes in some states, some tokens had
different numbers of stars rather than saying “2 packs” or “5 packs.”
Groetchen also made a trade stimulator machine called the Ginger, which
appeared on the market in June, 1937, and took the star tokens. As with
the mints tokens, it was probably possible to exchange tokens for cash,
at least at some establishments.
 Groetchen
also manufactured the “Columbia” in a variety of models from 1936
through 1948, with four years off for World War II from 1942 to 1945.
Though a bit smaller in size than most of its other trade stimulators,
the Columbia had a clever feature. The coins going in dropped into a
rotary carousel escalator. When a player got a winner, the last coins
played in got paid out, so someone trying to slug the machine would only
win their slugs back. That little feature made it a money maker. It was
also an inexpensive machine, selling for around $50 new while other
larger machines sold for around $100 at the time.
Trade stimulators weren’t immune to fakery, either. During their peak of
popularity, a lot of companies copied each others’ models and gave them
different names. However, collectors today are well aware of the many
fake trade stimulators that have been flooding the market. Some of these
machines are rigged from pieces of other machines.
 Take
the Groetchen “Tavern” model, for example. Several years ago, only a few
of these appeared in collections. Today, there are a large number of
them, many of which are being made up from other models. Groetchen made
several different variations of this machine, using the same case style.
Four of them have removable cast name plates on the top casting—“The
Bartender,” “Ball Gum,” and “The Fortune Teller.” The others have the
name as part of the top casting. To create the phoney Taverns,
unscrupulous people remove the original plate or mill the cast-in name
off the others to make a smooth area for a new recast Tavern nameplate.
Also, Groetchen only produced its Tavern machine with the front casting
having a three-vertical-bar design to the right of the award card area.
Some have shown up with the flowery broach design to the right, and most
of that design had the award card frame as part of the front casting and
wasn’t the removable four-screw frame style. Then they replaced the
original reel strips and award cards with fake ones. The reason for all
this subterfuge is money since the popularity of the Tavern model with
collections has caused a demand which, in turn, has driven prices for it
up.
 Fakers
have also taken the “Cent-A-Pack” trade stimulator, made by the Buckley
Manufacturing Company, and modified it to create the “BALL GUM” trade
stimulator. First, they removed the etched nameplate pinned to the top
casting. Then they recast and mounted a large jackpot on the front. They
removed the original set of cigarette strips and reward card and
replaced them with a set of reproduced fruit symbol strips. This
produced a more desirable Buckley “Jackpot Ball Gum” to rake in a higher
amount. The way collectors can tell the difference between the original
model and the “Ball Gum” is that the original won’t have the four holes
in the top casting for the other nameplates.
 This
same Buckley machine is also being transformed into two other bogus
models. Fakers remove the original fruit or cigarette strips and reward
card, and then install a set of Tavern beer strips, along with a made-up
award card, with either the Bartender or Bar Boy name placed on it.
Buckley never made machines like these. And to show how gullible some
beginning collectors are, several have sold on eBay. One eBay buyer made
the seller take the machine back.
So what are trade stimulators worth today? Generally, trade stimulators
range in price from about $200 to nearly $800. The Liberty Bell trade
stimulator, for example, ranges in value from about $200 to $350 in
today’s market, despite surviving in great numbers. A 1930s Gem Vendor
currently sells for $750. Groetchen’s Mercury goes for about $350.
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