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Columbus Model RW

Columbus Vending Company, Columbus, OH, c. 1933, 14. The Model RW is model is identical to the 'Dart' except that it doesn't have the gambling wheel. Without the gambling wheel I don't know what purpose the witness window served, but you can see it's there.

I bought this machine from Bill Enes in the late 1990's, who said he'd grabbed it from his collection on his way to the Pasadena Coin-op Supershow. He told me his father had owned this but that he was thinning out and had decided to sell it. He also said that Model RW's were less common than Darts, although collectors favored Darts because of the gambling aspect. I didn't have an opinion about that at the time, but since then I've seen several Darts and only one other RW, so I now believe Bill was correct.

This example is 100% original and has a neat body decal that's not very legible but which I think adds interest. This is not the globe that I bought on the machine; that one was a #8 globe with a NOS decal that Bill had applied, but the #4 globe is also correct and I think it's more attractive on this model. Unlike the Dart, this example, the machine pictured in the book, and the only other Model RW I've seen do not have a hole in the lid.