Seaside amusement arcade machines make £40,000 at Louth auction

A remarkable collection of historic East Coast seaside amusement arcade machines – picked up for next to nothing when they were about to be scrapped half a century ago – sold for a total of £40,000 when they went under the hammer in Louth.
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Published 18th Mar 2024, 15:49 GMT
James Laverack with the rare 1931 ‘Green Ray Television’ mind reading machine, which sold for £4,500. Image: John TaylorsJames Laverack with the rare 1931 ‘Green Ray Television’ mind reading machine, which sold for £4,500. Image: John Taylors
James Laverack with the rare 1931 ‘Green Ray Television’ mind reading machine, which sold for £4,500. Image: John Taylors

The auction saw 25 amusement machines making double, treble and, in one case ten times, estimate as bidders in a packed saleroom, on the telephone and the Internet fought to acquire arcade attractions that in some instances are now so rare that just a handful are known to survive anywhere in the in the world.

James Laverack of auctioneers John Taylors said: “The top result was achieved by an ultra-rare ‘Marathon Cycle Race’, a game in which two players spin wheels to race cyclists round a track. The winner gets their penny back. There are said to be less than ten known examples of this 1930 machine”.

“We passed the £1,800 estimate in seconds and there ensued a three-minute battle that reached £6,300 before the hammer finally went down. The lot was won by a bidder present in the room, who quickly loaded his buy into the back of a hatchback and departed in triumph home to York”.

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Star of the show - The Wright game was expected to make a mere £200-£400, but the hammer actually went down at £4,200. Image: John TaylorsStar of the show - The Wright game was expected to make a mere £200-£400, but the hammer actually went down at £4,200. Image: John Taylors
Star of the show - The Wright game was expected to make a mere £200-£400, but the hammer actually went down at £4,200. Image: John Taylors

James added: “It was however a variation of that game made by the Bridlington amusement firm R. Wright & Son that provided the most jaw dropping result. The Wright game, involving two players competing to propel monkeys up trees rather than cyclists round a track, was expected to make a mere £200 to £400. The hammer actually went down at £4,200, more than ten times estimate, prompting a burst of applause in the room. The machine knocked down to a Lincolnshire buyer, with a Welsh under-bidder.”

And the surprises kept coming: £5,200 was paid for a 1935 Gypsy Fortune Teller machine (estimate £2,000 to £3,000); a rare 1931 ‘Green Ray Television’ machine, an amusement that claimed to be able to read the mind using ‘television rays’, sold for £4,500; and a ‘Chamber of Horrors’ automaton, one of the few post-war machines in the collection, raised another £2,700.

Meanwhile a ‘Payramid’, a machine from the works of Britain’s slot machine genius William Bryans, hardly a rarity, but regarded by many collectors as ‘the greatest slot machine game ever invented’, went for a double expectations £1,300.

James said: “The £40,000 total the collection made in the auction was more than double expectations; a great result and something of a triumph for the vendors, a local couple who all those years ago decided to save some of the old machines that were being scrapped in their thousands when their working lives in seaside amusement arcades along the East Coast were over.”

The ultra-rare ‘Marathon Cycle Race’ passed the £1,800 estimate in seconds and reached £6,300 before the hammer went down. Image: John TaylorsThe ultra-rare ‘Marathon Cycle Race’ passed the £1,800 estimate in seconds and reached £6,300 before the hammer went down. Image: John Taylors
The ultra-rare ‘Marathon Cycle Race’ passed the £1,800 estimate in seconds and reached £6,300 before the hammer went down. Image: John Taylors

The auction also saw a collection of memorabilia relating to ‘Claribel’, the famous Louth-born Victorian songwriter, which was bought by the Louth Museum and a more recent piece of musical memorabilia – The Beatles autographs on the back of an airline notice card – also did rather well, going for £5,400.

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