Stunning early Adams 1 cent gum machine 20's near mint

Pricing & History

Sold for
Start Free Trial or Sign In to see what it's worth.
Sold Date
Source eBay

Up for bidding is a early 1 cent Adams gum Co. machine.I believe this machine may be 1910's possibly.The condition is I believe for the age near mint.It would be hard to find a better gum machine this early and in this condition on Ebay.It has its original crome and key!T are 4 pulls/ peppermint and spearment and peppermint and spearmint candy coated.This is a heavy machine not tin and the crome is thick and a little starting to pit. The sticker is about perfect ,I don't think it has a scratch on the decal.The key opens and closes and lock it.It looks to have all its inside hardware but I am not promising that.I put a penny in and it goes through the machine.The pullers pull about 1/2 inche out but of course I have no gum to see if it depenses out.The reserve is not bad considering the condition and gum company machine being offered is some info. on Adams Gum Company// SHIPPING TO ALASKA OR HAWAII $50.00 //WEIGHS ABOUT 20 LBS It was not until the early 1880s that the first commercial coin-operated vending machines were introduced for public use. These vending machines were found in London and dispensed post cards. Around the same time, Richard Carlisle, an English publisher and bookshop owner, invented a vending machine that dispensed books. Vending machines finally made their United States debut in 1888 when the Thomas Adams Gum Company installed machines on subway platforms in New York City that vended Tutti-Frutti gum . In 1897, the Pulver Manufacturing Company added animated figures to their vending machines, which provided added entertainment for the customer as the figures would move once coins were deposited into the machine.Thomas Adams – The Chewing Gum MastermindWhile chewing gum has ancient historical roots, the inventor Thomas Adams is credited as the mind behind modern chewing gum. Adams was working unsuccessfully as a photographer during the 1860s when former Mexican political leader Antonio de Santa Anna went into exile and boarded with him in his Staten Island home. Santa Anna brought with him a large quantity of chicle, a natural gum from the Central American sapodilla tree. Santa Anna felt chicle would be in high demand among Americans because he believed it could be used as an additive to natural rubber, which could make rubber a less expensive material and could be used to manufacture all kinds of things, primarily tires. Santa Anna planned to make a fortune selling chicle to Americans and asked Adams to experiment with it. Adams spent over a year trying to make rain boots, toys, masks and bicycle tires, but found chicle unsuitable as a rubber substitute. He considered throwing out the entire batch when he noticed a girl chewing paraffin wax-based gum and remembered that General Santa Anna chewed chicle, just as the Mayan people did a thousand years ago. Adams decided to experiment with chicle as a gum base and found that chicle-based gum was smoother, softer and superior in taste to the paraffin gums available at that time. Adams produced a batch of chicle-based gum and persuaded a local druggist to carry it. Soon tafter Adams opened the world’s first chewing gum factory. By February 1871, Adams New York Gum could be found on sale in drug stores for a penny per piece. In 1888, a Thomas Adams' chewing gum called Tutti-Frutti became the first gum to be sold in a vending machine. The machines were located in a New York City subway station. Following is a quote from a 1944 speech given by Thomas Jr.'s son Horatio at a manager's banquet for the American Chicle Company. "...after about a year's work of blending chicle with rubber, the experiments were regarded as a failure; consequently Mr. Thomas Adams intended to throw the remaining lot into the East River. But it happened that before this was done, Thomas Adams went into a drugstore at the corner. While he was t, a little girl came into the shop and asked for a chewing gum for one penny. It was known to Mr. Thomas Adams that chicle, which he had tried unsuc... read more

Items in the Price Guide are obtained exclusively from licensors and partners solely for our members’ research needs.

Flag item for content or copyright

If this item contains incorrect or inappropriate information please contact us here to flag it for review.

If you are the originator/copyright holder of this photo/item and would prefer it be excluded from our community, contact us here for removal.