O.D. Jennings Dixie Bell by Jenny Creekmore

O.D. Jennings Dixie Bell Restored By Nations Attic

Love it!

Don and I had the privilege to restore an O.D.  Jennings Dixie Bell for the nicest lady.   Yes, it was the first time I had ever seen one in person and of course I instantly fell in love with the machine. 

Oh dear…it is indeed another instance where I would just be thrilled to add a Dixie Bell to our personal collection.  Both Don and I truly are honored to work on such wonderful pieces of Americana.  The problem is our passion for these antique slot machines.  We just want to keep them all!  J

Not only does this antique slot machine have a stunning color of green, but look at the bells.  The bells are really just awesome.  Other than the obvious aesthetic beauty of this machine, let’s get to the interesting history of this vintage slot machine model. 

The O.D. Jennings Company manufactured this slot machine model for use in the southern parts of the United States, specifically Louisiana around 1937.  While it has not been proven, the story is that this model was a special order by gangster Frank Costello.  By having his own particular slot machine model, everyone knew who was in charge of and operated this ‘one armed bandit’.

The Dixie Bell is unique in that it has a false extra jackpot on the front.  The false jackpot was an attempt to attract more customers.  Customers would ‘think’ the machine had an extra-large jackpot, but they were really just being fooled.  The jackpot on the mechanism was really the same as other models being manufactured by O.D. Jennings at the time. 

Just a little bit of deception……gotta love our history!

For the before & after photos please go to: http://www.nationsattic.com/antique_jennings_slot_machine_restoration_repair_3.html