Exhibit Supply Co. | Braying Jackass Lifter

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With its red light-bulb eyes and big, pointed ears, the Donkey Bray has a great figurative appearance. Many of the lifters of this time, (produced by Mills and Caille), were plain and simple. This machine was an attempt by Exhibit Supply Co. to attract more players by design alone.

 

Animal theme penny arcade machines are quite rare and always add variety, fun and interest to any collection. The donkey has been used as a working animal for at least 5000 years. It is represented in religion, myth and folklore as a beast of burden, as the pessimistic Eeyore in A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh, and as a main character in the Shrek franchise of the 2000s. In the world of arcades, The Donkey Bray adds contrast to another animal- themed machine, notably the earlier Lion Lung Tester made by the Mills Novelty Co.

 

This Donkey Bray is sturdily built with a solid cast iron foot plate. The original machine was made with a straight grain oak cabinet. To add style, some of the re-creations made by the National Jukebox Exchange feature full quarter sawn white oak. Written on the front of the cabinet are the hand-lettered instructions, ‘The more you lift, the louder he brays.’

 

Read more in No Tampering! A Guide to Papa's Re-creations.