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Loving cup and more

Started by brandm24, July 05, 2020, 12:45:01 PM

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brandm24

The Callie Brothers Manufacturing Co. in Detroit, Michigan manufactured hundreds of types of slot machines, arcade games, gum machines, etc. over the course of their active business from 1893 until 1932.

They started life as the Callie Co. located in Saginaw, but by 1901 had incorporated and relocated to Detroit. After A. Arthur Callie died in 1916 the company continued in business until 1932 when heir Adolph Callie sold the company to Fuller Johnson. After the founder's passing in 1916, the company seems to have lost most of their creative drive and produced machines employing old, dated operating systems.More on the company's history here.

                                                                     
                                                           https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caille_Bros.

The tokens here are from two of their early slot machines called the Loving Cup and the Silver Cup both manufactured in the early 1900's. The image of the Loving Cup is courtesy of Tom Gustwiller and that of the Silver Cup courtesy of Greg McLemore.

I got a chuckle out of some of the names of their various machines...someone at Callie had a sense of humor. Among them were "Shake With Uncle Sam", "English Double Ben-Hur" and my favorite, the "Rubber-Neck Blowing Machine."  :o

The image of the building is of Callie's operation in Detroit.

Bruce



Always Faithful

brandm24

This is another one of Callie's slot machines manufactured in 1920. It's known as the Victory Bell and is a beautifully crafted piece of equipment.

Bruce
Always Faithful

Figleaf

Economists will tell you that it takes people (or rather, labour) and stuff to make things and that the price of stuff expressed in hours of labour (or vice versa) moves up and down in history. When stuff is expensive in terms of labour (or labour is cheap in terms of stuff) things made are decorated sumptuously on the outside and stuff is recycled. Example: an early medieval church is austere and it may have been constructed with, or upon blocks from a classical temple or arena.

In 1920, art nouveau - it has different names in different countries - was in fashion. Buildings were decorated. It makes sense that small machines be decorated also. Flash forward half a century and picture a juke box. No decorations. Labour was expensive in terms of stuff. Point being that comparing the outside of a 1920 machine (the inside is a very different story) to one made today is apples and oranges.

That said, I enjoyed your story and the great research behind it. TFP.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

brandm24

It had crossed my mind that the ornateness of the slot machines were in harsh contrast to modern machines...all flash and glitter but no artistic merit. I wasn't thinking of the contrast as anything other than there was one, but your point is well made. Besides, I like both apples and oranges. ;D

Bruce
Always Faithful