___________________________________________________________________________________________

Shipman

Shipman Mfg. Co., c. 1932, 17 ¹/₂". Like many 1930's machines, this is made of porcelainized cast iron and is heavy and sturdy. Unlike most machines of any era, the vending wheel is activated by pulling a chain. This, the Neko, and the Radio Vendor are the only models I can think of that vend this way. It was available with or without a hot nut flasher. It was also privately labeled as a Western, and as far as I know the only difference between the Shipman and the Western is the name on the flap and maybe the decal. Most Shipmans were green, but I remember long ago hearing of a black Shipman or Western.

The machine above is 100% original. It's a tough one to find. I'd wanted one since the mid- to late 1990's but never had a chance to buy one at a reasonable price, even when one of my best friends had 3---three!---of them all at once back in the late 1990's. He liked having 3, and when he finally did part with one it was because someone more motivated than I was pried it away from him using a large sum of money for leverage. Some people think sturdy crowbars produce leverage, but they don't hold a candle to stacks of Federal Reserve Notes. I got lucky in early 2010 when another friend was decluttering and didn't appreciate this as much as I did, so I used some of my own Federal Reserve Notes to ensure that it came my way. This is a hot nut version, which based on the few Shipmans I've seen are less common than the cold nut version.