Wow! Nothing like having the previous owner of this device send in his guess. Mark Schlesinger of Middletown, New Jersey wrote us, “In response to your May’s What Is It” I not only know what the antique is, I was the second owner of this exact penny arcade machine. I bought it in the early 1970s from the Casino Arcade in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Unfortunately, I sold it 9 years later. This 1 cent (converted to a nickle) “Electric Pen” was made in 1933 by the International Mytoscope Co. in Long Island City, New York. It is a 9 floor model machine — the photo only shows the top half. After inserting a nickle in the coin slide, the lights start flashing and a fountain pen (between the towers) moves back and forth simulating writing a personalized fortune. After about 10 seconds the lights and pen stop and a “fortune” card is dispensed.” Thanks, Mark, for helping us out here. And, thank you for sending us a fortune card that popped out of this very machine. It is fascinating!
Other correct guessers include: Terry Cook of Fort Morgan, Colorado; Bill McLaren, Anchorage, Alaska; and Elizabeth Puls of Boulder, Colorado who basically identified the machine as a writing device. That works! Thank you for your guesses. You have all won a year’s subscription to the Mountain States Collector.
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