FREEPORT GUM MACHINES
This tale comes from Ron Gunn of Iowa. It goes like this .....
We live in a small town (12,000), and as a profes-
sional person for many years, I know many of the
people who live here. Most of the auctioneers and
antique dealers know me and the kinds of things I
tend to look for. Occasionally one will call telling
me what is coming up in an auction, however, not
much shows up. To them a Silver King Hot Nut
machine with the red hobnail glass is exciting.
In the fall of 1998 I stopped by the local realtor's
office to give them the information on the sale clos-
ing of my father's house at the conclusion of his
estate. I had to leave town, and would not be around
for the closing. The real tor was out of the office, but
in another office another realtor/auctioneer was
with a customer. When he saw me he hollered out
the door suggesting I should look at a couple of
gum machines he had for sale at an auction on the
weekend. I had not looked at the sale bill as I knew
I could not be there. He said he had never seen any-
thing like them and described them as machines
with wooden sides (I said probably Baby Grand
machines), but told him I was leavi.ng town shortly.
I would not be around for the sale, and wasn't sure
I would have time to stop and look at the machines-
-after all, who wants to make significant effort to
see Baby Grands. He insisted I make an effort to see
them.
My last minute plans took me to that part of the
town, so I elected to take a look at the machines. I
later learned they had been part of an old, old estate
that contained items from a tum of the century
blacksmith shop. It was immediately obvious they
were not Baby Grand machines. In fact they were
Freeport Gum Vendors. One was used to dispense
"Goo-Goo Gum", the other "Perfecto Gum".
Except for the gum dispensed, graphics, etc. the
machines were identical.
I still had to leave town, so asked my daughter to go
the the auction and buy them for me. We called
home the evening of the auction. There had been lit-
tle interest, and she had paid $260.00 each for them.
they were extremely dirty, but cleaned up well.
Paint and graphics are still nice and distinct.
I had Bill Enes look at them during the Chicago
Coin-Op Show. Both of them have cast iron mar-
quees. Bill said they are the only Freeports he had
ever seen with marquees. The paper signs on the
marquees are deteriorated, and partly missing. An
intelligent guess is the Perfecto marquee said:
A BIG PIECE OF GUM
YOUR FORTUNE
------AND-----
A Lettter from Your Sweetheart
Both machines are numbered inside on both the
wood case and the front casting. The wood case
number is stamped, and the number on the front
casting is hand painted. In both cases the numbers
match (significant in some other parts of the col-
lecting world). I assume ??? the numbers designate
the manufacturing sequence. The Goo-Goo
machine is numbered 049, and the Perfecto Gum
Machine is 874.
Goo Goo Gum
Perfecto Gum
I remember when I showed the machines to Bill
Enes at the Fall 1998 Chicagoland show he called
other collectors over to look at them and told them
to quit complaining that good finds don' t show up
anymore. The machines caught several eyes while
carrying them through the aisles and several collec-
tors stopped my wife and me to look at them and
asked if they were for sale. THEY AREN'T!!!