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Velvet Mint Gum
(The Shorter One)

Velvet Mint Gum Co., Detroit, MI, c. 1910's, 10". My date range on this is an estimate, but I'm 94.28% confident that it's accurate. If it's off, then it errs by being too late, not too early. The shell of the body attracts a magnet so it appears to be made of nickel-plated steel.

The observant reader may have noticed another Velvet Mint in the listing, and you can read about it here. In case you think having the same name means they're alike, this picture will fix that thought. I don't know if the two models were produced concurrently or if one preceded the other.

The example above is 100% original and works well. It's the specific machine pictured in Silent Salesmen Too and as far as I know, it's the only one known to collectors.

Like the tall Velvet Mint, this has an interesting provenance. In 2007, two collectors bought the remaining assets of the Columbus Vending Company from whoever owned them at the time. You can see more about the Columbus history and timeline here. The person who sold them the assets had some amazing one-of-a-kind machines in his (or her?) collection, and those went to the two collectors as well. Most of those machines were Columbus-related but not all were. This is one that wasn't. These buyers knew that my friend Shawn had one of the tall Velvet Mints and he'd made it known that he'd like to own both models if an example of the short one ever showed up. They called him, Shawn bought it, and years later sold it to me.