I certainly agree with Don Teach that I would want to know all I could
find about any instrument that I owned, and particularly if it were a
coin operated machine!  The history behind these is fascinating to me.

I suppose that one of the first things that I would want to know,
though, is the year of manufacture, like Larry Evans asked about, and
then build my knowledge base from there.  So, I've checked my reference
library.  I also agree that "the Internet cannot replace the value of
a good book".

On page 675 of Bowers' "Encyclopedia", at the bottom of the page, right
hand side, there is a chart entitled "Dating Wurlitzer pianos", that
states, "serial number 23,192 was shipped 8/9/1915."  Following that,
the list skips to serial number 57,052, shipped 1/4/1924.

And, in Pierce's Piano Atlas, 12th edition, on page 401, it says,
regarding serial numbers -

  1915 - 22000
  1916 - 25000
  1917 - 28000  and
  1924 - 58000

So, the serial numbers seem to agree with each other, between these
two reference books.  To answer Mr. Evans' question then, I would date
the year of manufacture of his coin operated piano (and I wouldn't use
the term "nickelodeon"), as the year 1916.  I would also hope that this
information would encourage Mr. Evans to research much more about his
unit than just the date of manufacture.

Bowers' Encyclopedia is a treasure that I could never do without!
The information located here about all the Wurlitzer instruments is
fantastic, as are all of Mr. Bowers and Mr. Reblitz' books!  I'm sure
there are other authors, but these are the foremost ones that I look
to for great reference books in this field of endeavor.

John Bartlett
Woodruff, South Carolina