1949 · Genco
Black Gold
Flat orange sky scattered with small white starburst sparkles, green rolling hills along the bottom edge, orange sunset sky inside the central circular vignette and light wooden cabinet frame visible around the glass.
- Year
- 1949
- Maker
- Genco
- Type
- Electro-mechanical
- Display
- Backglass lights
- Players
- 1
Made by
- Design
- Harvey Heiss
Vision analysis
On the backglass
Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.
Backglass
- orange
- yellow
- maroon
- green
Fingerprint: BLACK GOLD dripping yellow-black lettering within sawtooth sunburst at wheel hub, enormous roulette-style prize wheel filling nearly entire plate divided into ten segments numbered 1-10, arc of ribbon banners listing progressive cash values from 90,000 to 700,000 with MILLION in white serif at top-right, circular vignette showing three black oil derricks and small white house under orange sunset sky
The centre of the artwork is a sunset oil-field vignette — three black lattice drilling derricks and a small white house under an orange sky — encircled by a sawtooth sunburst, with the words BLACK GOLD in drooping yellow cartoon letters around it. Around it sits an entire roulette wheel of numbers 1-10 with an outer ring of ever-rising cash prizes ending in a red MILLION ribbon at the top right. The most memorable small detail is the yellow lozenge banner above the derricks reading GENCO'S. The whole plate is a flat orange field sprinkled with tiny white star sparkles, with no human figures anywhere.
Setting
- Flat orange sky scattered with small white starburst sparkles
- Green rolling hills along the bottom edge
- Orange sunset sky inside the central circular vignette
- Light wooden cabinet frame visible around the glass
Symbols
- Oil derricks
- Small house
- Sawtooth sunburst
- Star sparkles
- Ribbon banners
- Numerals 1-10
- Green hills
- Clouds
- Sun disc
Lettering
- Chunky hand-drawn cartoon capitals with heavy black outlines; black gold in drooping yellow letters with black shadow curving around the hub, million in large white serif capitals with black shadow on a red ribbon, values in plain white or yellow numerals on coloured panels, genco's in black italic script on a yellow lozenge
Themes
- Oil
- Black gold
- Prize wheel
- Money
- Numbers
- Western
- Roulette
Title on it
- Black gold
Text on it
- MILLION
- GENCO'S
- BLACK GOLD
- 90,000
- 800,000
- 10,000
- 20,000
- 30,000
- 40,000
- 50,000
- 60,000
- 70,000
- 80,000
- 100,000
- 200,000
- 300,000
- 400,000
- 500,000
- 600,000
- 700,000
- 10
- 9
- 8
- 7
- 6
- 5
- 4
- 3
- 2
- 1
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Other | No people or characters; only three black lattice oil derricks of differing heights, a small white house with red roof and dark doorway, green bushes, and a bare earth patch inside the central roundel |
| Vehicle | The dominant graphic is a large prize wheel with ten numbered wedges and an outer ring of ribbon banners carrying cash amounts |
A flat, brightly coloured orange backglass dominated by one enormous roulette-style prize wheel that fills nearly the whole plate. The wheel is divided into ten wedge segments carrying huge numerals 1 to 10 in alternating dark green and white block letters on alternating maroon and lemon-yellow wedges, each wedge outlined in navy. Around the rim, an arc of ribbon banners lists progressive cash values in white or yellow numerals on coloured panels: 90,000, 800,000, 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000, 50,000, 60,000, 70,000, 80,000, 90,000, 100,000, 200,000, 300,000, 400,000, 500,000, 600,000 and 700,000. The top-right carries the word MILLION in big white serif capitals with black shadow on a red ribbon. Small white starbursts are scattered over the orange ground, with green hills along the bottom edge. In the wheel hub a circular vignette shows three black oil derricks, a small white house with red roof, green scrub and an orange sunset sky, ringed by a sawtooth sunburst; curved yellow-and-black lettering reads BLACK GOLD.