___________________________________________________________________________________________

Ad-Lee Duette

Ad-Lee Co., c. 1936, 18 ¹/₂". Columbus made many of Ad-Lee's early, cast iron models, but I don't know if they made this one. It's not in the style of the globed 1920s and 1930s gumball and peanut models that I know Columbus did make---like the Columbus Model A, Model 21, and Model M and the Ad-Lee E-Z, Model D, and World's Best Machine---but that doesn't mean they didn't make this one. Still, my money would be on another manufacturer. This is not a rare model, but I've not seen many over the years and very few of those have been in good original condition. This is the best and most attractive example I can ever recall seeing in person.

The styling is pure art deco, which is consistent for a 1936 model. It's a heavy machine---much heavier than I'd expect from sheet metal. The metal that makes up the case is thick but I'm still surprised by how weighty this is. There may be some cast iron incorporated in the base, but I didn't see any direct evidence of that. Maybe I'm underestimating sheet metal's density, but whatever the reason, this is one hefty piece.

The 2 compartments are separated by a glass window. Each side would presumably contain different products, and all but the very dullest of customers could figure out which side to put the coin in to get what they wanted. Another version---shown in Silent Salesmen Too---has 2 turn knobs in front rather than the slides shown above, and has a dedicated chute for each side rather than the single shared chute on the machine above. My hunch is that the slide mechanism and single exit is earlier, but my only rationale for that belief is that the slide mechanism looks earlier and the dual exits strike me as an improvement over the single exit design.

The example pictured above is 100% original except for the front glass. The original glass was cracked when I bought this and I replaced it.