Originally Posted by BobC
Hey Joe,
That is cool. The Baby Grand machine I have was made by the Victor Vending Company out of Chicago, IL, and is mostly made from real stained hardwood, which blew me away. I never remembered seeing mostly wood gumball machines when I grew up. Mine looks like a somewhat regular gumball machine with a single rectangular wooden box standing on end, on the right side of the gumball dispensing part, that holds and dispenses the cards. I think mine holds maybe 300-400 cards to dispense (never really tried counting), but was definitely made for only the regular modern size Topps cards, the oversized 1956 and earlier Topps cards won't fit in the card dispenser part. Same as yours, penny for a gumball and a card. I've even got what looks to be the original, single pole, metal stand that it still sits on, just like when you'd walk in your local store and see the gumball machines by the door. Because of the mostly wood frame and screws and all, mine was definitely assembled by hand. Still real solid and sturdy, they certainly don't make things like these anymore. On the rectangular box that holds the cards. When I got it, the gumball machine still had three 1958 Topps cards displayed on the front of the card dispensing box, stacked three high, vertically one atop another. The plastic piece that holds them in place is just like the top half of an old screw down holder, but in this case the bottom half is actually the wooden front lid/door of the card dispenser, and the four corner screws holding the cards in place are actually wood screws that are screwed right into the wooden front lid/door. Definitely old school, but still very cool. The three 1958 cards I have showing on the dispenser front are Minoso, Shantz, and Jensen. So an extra bonus for me with Minoso's recent election to the HOF. I hadn't even realized that till I just went looking at my gumball machine right now. Just made my day. LOL
Not sure if the displayed cards were original to the machine though. If you look up images (sorry no photo I can post) of a 1950's Victor Baby Grand gumball card dispenser machine, you'll find pictures of the wooden gumball machines, and eventually one with the card dispenser on the side. Except the images I found don't show cards on the front lid/door of the card dispensing unit. Instead it shows the name VICTOR printed vertically on the dispenser lid/door. So I don't know if maybe the clear plastic screw down piece holding the cards on mine was original to the machine so whoever owned it could display whatever cards were being dispensed, or if it was something that someone jerry-rigged and came up with on their own to show the cards in the dispenser. Still pretty cool either way. I'll have to see if some research can get me a better answer. Thanks for sharing that info by the way.
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