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Dasco

Maker unknown, c. 1930's or 40's, 36". My assignment of vintageness is my gut impression, not based on research; it may as early as the 1920's or as late as the 1950's, but I think 1940's is probably right.

This is my only toffee vendor, and it's the only one I've ever seen live although I've seen one other example of this model online. Any doubt that a toffee vendor would be British? As much as I'd like to expound on this machine's virtues, I don't know enough about it to do that. It's a boxy sheet metal machine, quite conventional in most ways, but I love the toffee connection, the graphics, and the overall Britishness of the piece. I got it surprisingly cheaply on ebay, and was glad once again that most American collectors thumb their nose at machines not born in the US of A.

Ever heard of Mackintosh? Me neither, but the following is from Wikipedia:

Mackintosh's Toffee is a candy, currently manufactured in Switzerland by Nestle. The product is known widely throughout Canada and is licensed for sale in Canada by Nestle Canada.
Its creator, John Mackintosh, opened up his sweets shop in Halifax, Yorkshire, England in 1890, and the idea for Mackintosh's Toffee, not too hard and not too soft, came soon after. In 1969, Mackintosh's merged with rival Rowntree to form Rowntree Mackintosh, which merged with Nestle in 1988.
The product is often credited with being over 100 years old. Nestle does not distribute it through the US but one may order it online for delivery.

Based on that history I guess a Mackintosh vendor could be Canadian, but the coinage is British. In addition, given that the "Machintosh" panels screw on and could be swapped out to sell Hershey's or condoms or something else, I guess I shouldn't get all enamored about the British toffee connection---but toffee has more appeal than Trojans, and if I'd rather fantasize about toffee than Trojans then who are you to stop me?

The machine above is 100% original and appears to be complete, but have never stocked it with toffee (or Trojans) to test it.

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