The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I was at a reunion in Tallahassee this past weekend and stayed at the DoubleTree next to the Capitol building. While I was eating dinner in their restaurant, I looked up at this picture several times before it popped out at me. When I got home, I searched the Florida photo archives and retrieved a better copy of it. This was taken in Mr. Jacobs Bar around the turn of the century. The DoubleTree now calls their restaurant Jacobs Bar. The machine looks to be a Columbia AS Coin Op.

Steve

We occasionally see images of arcades with floor-standing coin-ops lined up against the walls, but it's rare to see a photo of an unrelated business with a single machine sitting on a counter, as seen here.

Thanks for posting this, Steve!

George P.

Also note the pedestal-mounted "ceiling" fans....

Also pretty rare artifacts !

Unrelated business music and whiskey go hand in hand

Thanks for the pic OP.

Fantastic picture! I love seeing antique items I collect in situ, so to speak. Like George, I've never seen a counter-top coin-op in an original setting.

This one is off-topic but I have the identical 1897 poker machine, in heavy nickel-plated cast iron.

Here's an on-topic photo you might enjoy. Pretty scruffy bar/cigar store overall, but click on the photograph to get a look look at the right hand counter. That sleazy shop had an Idelia..... (It's the Saratoga Cafe in Pipestone, Montana around 1909.)

These pictures are from a book titled "Saloons, Bars, & Cigar Stores" by Roger E. Kislingbury. It is a glorious treasure trove of fantastic old photos, reproduced in large (about 8x10) format with great detail.

I can easily get lost in these photos, with so many amazing things to be seen in every image. It's particularly fun if you're interested in the earliest mechanical gambling machines, but even the lighting, fixtures, and especially the people make every photo a wonder. It's time travel, almost like stepping into a 19th century saloon and ordering a whiskey.

Do not touch phonograph?

Do not play phonograph?

Considering it's an Idelia, I'll bet it says, "Do not touch phonograph"!

Steve

Maybe it says "Do not take photographs"

...Or "Do Not Pass Phony Nickels."

George P.