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Caille Perfect Vendor

Caille Bros. Co., c. 1909, 20". This is a bold, stately model from the early era of ornate vendors. Made of cast iron and highly embossed, it reminds me of the Chicago which was introduced a year earlier. Even the back of the Caille was made to be seen, to the point that I wish I had a spot in the middle of a room to display it for the full 360-degree effect. Alas, the stand I had it on there blocked my wife's view of the TV so I had to relegate it to a shelf, with its back to a wall...which is unfair to the machine but promotes marital bliss, so there's that.

Caille made two versions of this model, which Silent Salesmen Too calls Style A and Style B. I don't know if those are Caille's monikers or if Mr. Enes assigned them to keep the versions straight. This is Style B, which was the "economy model." Oh yes, my friends; this is the scaled-back version, the plain-jane cousin of the exhalted Style A. It's hardly worth looking at, really---much less owning---and had I known this was the lowlier of the two models I'm not sure I'd have bought it. But I spent too much on it to just throw it away, and I'm sure this paragraph will kill any desire you might have had in setting it on your shelf, so I guess I'm stuck with it. It's not bad, I guess, but still....I've adjusted to its pedestrian status and it does have a kind of peasant-like charm to it once you adapt to its cheap facade.

This example is 100% original and in great condition. I bought it at the November 2019 Chicagoland show when I saw it on a table about mid-morning. It's a table I was making a point to inspect frequently and I'd already bought several things from it, and I'll guarantee you this wasn't on it then. The seller musta been holding it back until a space opened up for it---which I unwittingly helped him create---and then he snuck it out when I wasn't looking. Lucky for him me that I came around again so he didn't have to take it home with him.

This is not a model I'd ever longed for, but it was love at first sight. It's rare, the pictures in the book don't do it justice so they never got my juices flowing, and given the Caille brand and the ratio of high demand to low supply, it's just not one I ever thought about. If I ever saw one in a collection then I don't remember it, but if that's the case it must have been a really nice and extensive collection for this not to have made a lasting impression. The pictures above show it more accurately than the ones in Silent Salesmen Too.