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Columbus Model 21

Columbus Vending Company, Columbus, OH, c. 1934, 13". The Model 21 is a small bulk vendor meant to be used on bars and small store-top counters. It's made of cast iron and almost all that I've seen are finished in green porcelain. It has an octagonal base and the correct globes are the large octagonal globe (#4) and the small octagonal globe (#3). Collectors consider the #3 globe to be more desirable.

The Model 21 is the bulk-product sibling of the Model 34, which vends gumballs. It was usually equipped with an octagonal cast iron baseplate, a plain vertical coin slot and cover, and the same large-nippled lid that came with other Columbus models of this era (such as the Model M). An example of this kind of "base model" is shown above left. It was also available dolled up with any or all of the following features:

• A working lamp. According the picture in Silent Salesmen Too, the lamp fixture attached to the lid and didn't extend in any way into the rest of the machine. This required a "lampshade lid," an example of which is on the machine pictured above right. Under the aluminum cover is a hole in the center of the lid, through which a thin lamp pole could be routed and secured when the aluminum cover is removed. These lids are hard to find but aren't rare. I've seen several Columbus 21s with lamp fixtures but I don't know if they were original or if they were created later from a common lamp and a lampshade lid.

• A base from which protruded 2 pentagonal ashtrays. There were 2 styles of the "ashtray base," one that placed the ashtrays at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions and a later one that placed them at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions and therefore took up a little less counter space. The second style seems to be harder to find. I know of only one original set of ashtrays, although the base has been recast, so be careful.

• A Pac-Man-type slug rejector. Although the body of this slug rejector is relatively common, the Model 21 needs a slug rejector with a vertical mount rather than the horizontal mount seen on almost all other Pac-Man-type slug rejectors. The example above right has one of these slug rejectors. I don't know that this rejector is technically "rare," but it's quite hard to find; I've seen only a few over the years.

The examples above are 100% original. The machine on the left has an unusual vendor decal that I've never seen before.