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Howard Delivery Machine

Maker unknown (perhaps Howard?), c. 1910, 19". I found this British wood vendor during a trip to England in September of 2005. I spent part of a day with a British collector/dealer who'd bought this at an auction, but it wasn't really his cup of tea so he'd bought it to resell. Luckily I stumbled into his sights while he had it.

I don't know what it sells, which bothered me a bit but not enough to pass on it. You put a large British penny into the coin slot, and the coin travels down a chute and trips some kind of internal lock. You then slide the drawer out, pluck your goodie(s) from the drawer's innards, and then close the drawer to reload it. Even without the decal and the coin designation I'd have guessed this to be British because every wood vendor I've seen with a drawer has been British. Most were designed to sell cigarettes, so I had to assure myself that this wasn't a cigarette vendor before I bought it. The drawer's too big and not shaped for cigarettes, so it must have been something else. No clue from the name, though, unless it delivered Howard.

In spite of 3 tags there's very little information about the machine's origin or purpose. The metal tag affixed to the front just below the lock says:

This machine is 100% original.