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Mercer Peanut

Mercer Novelty Co., Columbus, OH, c. 1905, 22". I don't know much about this model. It's not listed as "rare" in Silent Salesmen Too, but this is the only one I've seen. Not only that, if you closely compare the machine pictured above to the one in Silent Salesmen Too it becomes obvious that this is the exact machine pictured there. I bought this on ebay from a general seller, not a collector or specialized coin-op dealer, and don't have the provenance. I don't know how it got from book to my shelf---but somehow it did.

This is a 3-column vendor that sold small boxes of peanuts. Put your penny into the slot and turn the handle, and a box fell out of a stack onto the shelf below. The machine has a wood case with metal stacks---perhaps tin---and a cast iron handle and internal mechanism parts. It's a stately machine with great presence, although it seemed to be underappreciated during the ebay auction in which I bought it. I don't know why, but I was glad it was.

The machine pictured above is 100% original.