Antique 1925 Vendex Pencil Vending Machine
Antique 1925 Vendex Pencil Vending Machine
We were recently contacted by Mike Morgan, a pencil collector and enthusiast, who shared a great antique pencil-related piece of equipment with us: a 1925 Vendex Pencil machine!
Pencil vending machines have a long history in retail. Traditionally used in drug stores, five-and-dimes, and other shops selling cheap goods, it would be stocked with a simple hexagonal pencil and would sell for about five cents.
What’s cool and different about this Vendex machine and sets it apart from a plain-old pencil vendor is that it can emboss a 16-character custom message on a pencil barrel! The customer inserts a nickel, slides a series of 16 levers to a corresponding letter or character for their message, pulls the handle on the side, and PRESTO! A pencil stamped with block letters or numbers falls into the collection tray.
Information on this machine is few and far between on the internet, though it wasn’t completely lost to the annals of history. A few auctions have come and gone over the years (at least that have been cached by Google), but we’re extremely excited to come across this one.
Pencil vending machines are still in use, but almost entirely in schools, selling round pencils customized with either the school’s name or motivational slogans. No vendors are being produced to emboss a name on an individual pencil.
(In a related note, Pencils.com has a sale going through January on both custom imprint pencils and motivational pencils! They’re perfect to stock your school or business’s modern pencil vending machine.)
I’ve noted that you have a 1925 Vendex pencil machine. http://Pencils.com/antique-1925-vendex-pencil-vending-machine/
I’m in the process of doing a professional restoration to one of these machines and I’m in need of something critical. There is a label inside the back cover that provides the operating and care instructions for the machine. On the machine in my possession this paper label is mostly destroyed. At whatever condition yours is in – if your machine has that label intact – any part of it, would you be so kind as to snap a picture of that label and send it to me? My email address is dhaas@sourcelinemedia.com. Thank you very, very much!
Hi, I’m currently restoring an example too and have a very nice label on the back door. Do you still need a copy? Interesting it appears that the factory re-made the machine at some point and after a re-paint stuck a new label over the old. I’m looking for the marquee sign that sticks on the top.
Did you find the marque? I am also looking for it, Thanks
I have two of these I need to restore. Where do you get your parts?
Thanks
George, I make the missing or broken parts myself, unless I can track down originals. A lifetime of restoring coin-op antiques in Australia means good with my hands! This machine did probably work but was dropped and cracked the castings in various places. So the owner sold it to me cheap and I’m doing the full restoration. He kept the original stand to use with his slightly earlier wooden case version of the machine. But i happened to find an almost identical cast iron four footed base at a scrap yard so replacing that myself.
I have a pencil imprinting machine I would like to sell. It’s old. Manufactured in the early 70s. Any one have any suggestions on where or to whom I could sell it.
I would like to buy it .
I got one going on ebay tonight if your still looking fir one. Ty
George, I’ve just gotten back onto finishing my machine. I wasn’t able to find a 1920’s print advert which is a pity as they are a wealth of original info. I’ve managed to track down a few photos of the marquee from a museum owner so I have enough info to make the sign myself, it’s really just a simple bent tin frame. Luckily the two original pins that bolt to the top and hold the marquee in place were left inside the cashbox when i got it. When I’m done I can send you some photos of the finished marquee and measurements if you like. I’ll also need to make up some signage to fill the marquee. rorylucas800@hotmail.com
Patent for the machine. https://www.google.com/patents/US1548496?dq=charles+m+weeks&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vhBIU7qIEuahiAfIqYHgBg&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAA