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Mutoscopes
& Mutoscope Reels

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1930s Mutoscope
with San Francisco Earthquake Reel

circa 1930s, made by International Mutoscope Company, 25 cent play, fully operational.

The mutoscope is a coin operated, hand cranked, animated picture machine. It features the highly sought after (extremely hard to find) San Francisco Earthquake reel.

When you insert a penny and turn the crank, a small bulb lights up and a reel of still photos fall one by one in front of the viewer and gives the appearance of a movie.

Price $2750 plus shipping

To Order, go to SECURE ORDER FORM
For more information, Send Email along with your location and phone number
or call 202-338-1342 (10 am - 9 pm East Coast Time).

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Clamshell Mutoscope
with Charlie Chaplin Reel

Here is another Clamshell Mutoscope from the 1920s

The cast iron clamshell is so named because of the clamshell design on both sides of the mutoscope.

It is an restored mutoscope, fully working with a new Charlie Chaplin reel.

Price: SOLD plus shipping
If you want to be notified if another Clamshell becomes available, send an email to: durham@GameRoomAntiques.com along with your name, location and phone number

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Ultra Rare
Indian Clamshell Mutoscope

The Indian Clamshell Mutoscope is the rarest of all mutoscopes and highly sought after by advanced collectors. Very seldom is one available for sale. This one is beautifully restored.

The marque and reel is a new Charlie Chaplin reel entitled The Back Room Brawl. See Close Up of Marque

See

Price: $28,500 plus shipping.

For more information or to order, send an email to: durham@GameRoomAntiques.com along with your name, location and phone number
or call 202-338-1342 (10 am - 9 pm East Coast time).

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Mutoscope Reels

The above reels fits all mutoscopes, including Clamshells, round tops and later 1940s models. The only mutoscope that the reels don't work are the very rare mutoscope where you view the images in a mirror.

To Order, go to SECURE ORDER FORM
or call 202-338-1342 (10 a.m. - 9 p.m. East Coast)
or email: durham@GameRoomAntiques.com

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"Original" Mutoscope Marque Poster

This poster was produced in the 1950s/60s by the Mike Munves Company, one of the largest distributor of arcade machine during the 1940s-60s.

It is designed to go with reels of all subjects and be informational at the same time.

It is a heavy stiff cardboard poster that is 10 1/2" wide and 20" high and should fit "all" mutoscopes with tall marques. Very good condition, but may have minor smudge near edge

Price $89 plus $12.95 shipping

To Order, go to SECURE ORDER FORM

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Replica Mutoscope Marque Poster

This poster is for a Babe Ruth reel. We don't have the reel, but it would look great on the wall. Approx mesurements are 10 1/2" wide by 19 1/4" high.

Price: $59 plus $12.95 shipping

To Order, go to SECURE ORDER FORM

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Other Gameroom Items

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History of the Mutoscope

The mutoscope is a coin operated, hand cranked, animated picture machine. When you insert a penny and turn the crank, a small bulb lights up and a reel of still photos fall one by one in front of the viewer into which you look.

Approximately 850 still photos with blank cards in between them are on the mutoscope reel. They are printed from about fifty feet of regular movie film.

Introduced in 1895, the mutoscope was one of the most popular and profitable machines in the penny arcade. Its popularity was so great that in just one location in New York City in 1903, the arcade owner took in over $100,000. Marcus Loew, the theater chain magnate, apparently made his fortune in setting up mutoscopes and penny arcades. Unlike most other kinds of amusement devices, the mutoscope was popular well into the 1950's.

The feature that makes the mutoscope so popular is the viewer's ability to control the speed of the showing and even stop it for a few seconds to get a closer look. It also fulfills the deep-rooted desire that we all have to "peek" through and see something we maybe shouldn't see.

The most popular reels were the "Girly Shows," especially those with alluring titles that virtually always promised more than they delivered. Wouldn't you be enticed by such titles as: French Dressing, X-Ray Gown, Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath. Although there was no censorship board for mutoscope reels like there were for movies, the International Mutoscope Company made sure that the morality squads, which were in vogue in those days, would not attack the appropriateness of this type of entertainment.

The comic reels were the next most popular subjects. Here again the titles were enticing: "He Broke Her Heart, She Broke His Neck;" "The Great Spaghetti Eating Contest;" "Rival Piano Wreckers." Other popular subjects included westerns and sport subjects.

The early mutoscopes were large cast iron cases that had the appearance of a clamshell and were referred to as "Clamshell Mutoscopes." Later models were sleeker and more modern in design.

For a list of Mutoscopes & Reels for Sale scroll to the top of the page.

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Ken Durham
GameRoomAntiques
909 26 Street NW
Washington DC 20037
For Orders Only: 202-338-1342
All others, please email: durham@GameRoomAntiques.com
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