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Honest Vender

Honest Vender, Penn Yan, NY, c. ~1904, 25 ³/₄". This model is the predecessor to the Combination Vender, which was made by the Combination Vender Co. of Penn Yan, NY and displayed a patent date of Oct 25, 1904 on its front. The Combination Vender has a mottled-looking curved porcelain panel that starts just beneath the windows and extends to the bottom of the front, whereas the Honest Vender has a painted steel panel of the same shape. Other than that difference and different graphics, the two models look basically the same. The Combination Vender pictured on page 51 of Silent Salesmen Too sits on legs, but I don't recall ever seeing one on legs in person.

I bring up the Combination Vender because I always liked it but every example I've ever seen live has been hammered. I'm talking missing panels, big splits in the wood casing, missing mechanisms---things like that---and they've been priced without nearly the discount I thought was warranted by the "issues" I saw. After seeing Combination Venders like that for years, I gradually lost interest in ever owning one and gave up.

Then I saw this one in the Potter & Potter auction of March 2022 and my interest was renewed. Its condition looked to be stellar and it was listed as working and as having keys, so I thought "I'm in!" Unless, of course, someone else was in further....but no one was. Given how it turned out, I'm glad I never got a Combination Vender because I like this model better, and it's considered rare so there aren't many opportunities to own one.

This machine is 100% original.