(Topic ID: 76594)
Trivoli, IL
Ancaster, ON
The cabinet front and coin door on that Triple Action looks in bad shape. Too bad. Otherwise I'd have made an offer for the whole lot.
Recognized this awesome collection immediately as the late Donal Murphy's. Much or all of the stamping equipment has been sent over
to Pinball Resource in Poughkeepsie, NY. Does anyone know if the games are still there? Auction pending? Anything?
RIP Don. You really put together an incredible collection.
Quoted from bemmett:Want ot know what it is missing. DMD!!!!!!!!
Now you know what we feel like when we see a room full of the latest Sterns. Looks fun but...
Quoted from Erik:What are the tools at the end?
It looks like hot stamp equipment. It is like a typewriter with heat and colored ribbons. Melts the color into the plastic. That is how they get the markings on bumper caps.
Quoted from Erik:What are the tools at the end?
As was mentioned, those are the Hot stamping machines used to emboss the color into Pop Bumper Caps and Drop Targets. A foil type ribbon is use (like old Carbon Paper) that carries the ink. A heated die presses the ink down into the plastic (slightly melting the plastic a bit). It is a semi-automated process that still requires a human to sit there and swap out each cap and activate the process.
There is also a DVD out in circulation with Donal showing off his collection. He is greatly Missed!
All the equipment is now at Pinball Resource. Donal used to supply Steve with the caps and drop targets.
That is why there was a shortage of these items following Donal's death. Steve now stamps these items on site.
Strangely, the guy who actually does the stamping is named Don Murdy or something similar; no kidding!
For those that haven't heard of Donal he has some of these games pictured in Michael Shalhoub's Pinball Compendium books. There's also write-ups on Donal. He operated a booth at EXPO in Chicago for several years. Donal was one of the major contributors to the hobby supplying parts to Pinball Resource.
Interestingly enough, Donal's father owned and operated operated a factory in Chicago called Electrical Windings, Inc., which supplied coils to the entire em industry - Bally, Gottlieb, Williams, Chicago Coin included. The factory was churning out coils in the infancy of the em/coin-op movement and continued until the end of em production.
Donal took over the factory from his father and continued the operation until the buildings were sold in 2001. His Dad was good friends with David Gottlieb and when the Gottlieb family exited the em business Donal got the original brass presses and hot stamping machines from the factory that you see in the pics. They were moved 2 1/2 hrs. south of Chicago from the Gottlieb factory to a farm Don had grew up on. These presses were extremely heavy. I think Stern ended up with the playfield press from the Gottlieb factory because I saw that when I did the Stern factory tour.
Don made plastic shields, pop bumper caps, drop targets, animation plastics, and any other plastics that could be hot stamped with this process to supply Pinball Resource.
Since his farm was only an hour away, Don was nice enough to give me a tour of his collection and he gave me a DVD he had made up just to give out to hobbyists that stopped by. One thing I do remember was him saying that even though his Dad was affiliated with all the major pinball manufacturers of the day, they only had one machine while he was growing up - a 1940 Genco Formation. He decided to start collecting in the 70's and you can see how nice his collection turned out. He did tell me about the '74 Gottlieb Atlantis which was purchased new in the box in 1974 - Don showed me the paperwork when I was there. That game is truly HUO. He also had bought some other games new from distributors about that time.
He was proud of his Kings and Queens restoration which he did himself.
Don had a ladder accident at his farm a year or two ago and passed away - he will always be remembered by those of us in the hobby. RIP Donal.
Stern definitely has the playfield press from Gottlieb. Jody Dankberg of Stern gave me a tour last August of the Stern factory and I saw the press there. He said it came from Gottlieb.
It's hard not to miss it, it's a piece of machinery that definitely looks from a different era than the rest of the machinery in the Stern factory.
Quoted from way2wyrd:Great write up hoov. How do I find a copy of the DVD?
Thanks
-Jeff
You might check with Mike Pacak or Rob Berk that run EXPO - they were friends with Don. Steve Young may know something also.
Werribee
o . m . g - haven't even heard of most of them. Which are the rarest??
Quoted from littlecammi:The cabinet front and coin door on that Triple Action looks in bad shape. Too bad. Otherwise I'd have made an offer for the whole lot.
hilarious.
Quoted from DirtyDeeds:o . m . g - haven't even heard of most of them. Which are the rarest??
As far as rarity, most of these titles are fairly common. "Pleasure Isle" , "Majorettes" and of course "TKO" could be
considered some of the more rare titles in this group. Bally "Moon Shot" is another rare game.
I wish I could have personally have met Donal to shake his hand and thank him for preserving EM pinball machines. I also wish I had a copy of this DVD. If someone can burn a copy of theirs or provide some information as to where I can buy one.....Please keep me in mind.
Yes Darcy I am secretly hiding 109 EM pinballs in my bat cave. You would never ever EVER hear from me again if I had 109 pinball machines. There would be many meals I would forget to eat. My wife would have me commited. The following picture is a look into the future two months into me owning this collection.
thh.jpgQuoted from Rat_Tomago:Yes Darcy I am secretly hiding 109 EM pinballs in my bat cave. You would never ever EVER hear from me again if I had 109 pinball machines. There would be many meals I would forget to eat.
I would 100% agree with this statement. Then at the least your wife would be able to find your body.
Quoted from jrpinball:Does anyone know if the games are still there? Auction pending? Anything?
Quoted from beatmaster:very nice, and who's gonna get/got all this?
I had heard that a private collector would probably get it and it will never make it to auction. Donal knew a lot of people involved in pinball. The estate has the final say-so though.
Quoted from jrpinball:"Pleasure Isle" , "Majorettes" and of course "TKO" could be
considered some of the more rare titles in this group. Bally "Moon Shot" is another rare game
Cheers. Just looked them up on IPDB. Soo cool. I just wanna play them.
Thanks for sharing, looks like an amazing collection. It's very interesting to me to not only see the progression of design, but the progression of themes. The older ones seem so pure to me, lol ( I mean that in a good way) by the time you hit the 70s EMs, it's Vampire, Fireball and Wizard...very cool.
Quoted from AlexF:He had a pretty respectable Williams collection too.
The man had too much style and class and a love for pinball not to have a variety including great machines from all the manufacturers.
I met Don on several occasions. Mostly at Pinball Expo but once when he actually made it to my house in Overland Park.
He was a very understated guy who singlehandedly contributed to this hobby as much as anyone I know. His partnership with PBR was huge and created a big hole when he died. The hobby lost a real friend when he passed.
Mike O.
Team-EM
Reply
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!
Donate to PinsideGreat to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
