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Mystery 62

Maker unknown, c. 1920s/1930s, 15 ¹/₂". This is a 2-compartment bulk vendor attached to a wood base. Silent Salesmen Too says that "some feel" this was made by the Norris Mfg. Co. because of the mechanism's similarity to the Master Comb Vendor (see page 275 of Silent Salesmen Too for a picture of that rare bird). I see the similarity but don't think it's compelling enough to assign the Mystery 62's origin to Norris. Silver Kings and Northwestern 33 Peanuts have similar mechanisms, as do many others like them, but they're from different companies. That said, this and the Master Comb Vendor are the only two I can think of that look like this, so it's possible. You can see the meat of the front more closely here.

This machine is 100% original. It was set onto a table at the April 2024 Chicagoland show and lasted 1.4 seconds there before I picked it up. I looked it over and confirmed with the seller that it worked, and then bought it. That took another 6.6 seconds. I don't recall ever seeing one before in person, and my heart rate increased a bit during those 8 seconds. It's a great machine, with just the right overall look and patina to it.

The decal suggests that Denver was this machine's home until someone repatriated it to the midwest. Some internet sleuthing revealed that Harkness Heights is a neighborhood immediately northwest of Denver's central business district, and 44^th Avenue is a main east-west route through it. The pharmacy was on the corner of 44^th Avenue and Lowell Boulevard, in this building which was built in 1929. The pharmacy was robbed in 1962, and we can all be thankful this machine wasn't shot up during the holdup! Harkness Heights Pharmacy appears to have gone the way of the dinosaurs, but its spirit lives on with this decal.