The Tale of the
Green Lantern
by Nick Carini
In June of 2011 my mom noticed a listing for a 1
cent gumball machine at a household auction in cen-
tral Wisconsin. Dad (John Carini) made the call on it,
and from the auctioneers description (aluminum with
a round glass globe and a nipple on the top cap) he
thought it was a Columbus and left a $75 bid. He asked
for a photo to be emailed to us, but soon forgot about
it. When I came home from work and checked email,
I was excited to see that the auctioneer had sent us a
photo of a Langley gumball vendor (see photo). Dad
said it would be best to drive up to the auction, since
he was pretty certain the auctioneer was just fishing for
a value and didn't really record his bid (he never asked
for a credit card to secure the bid). Since my father was
scheduled to work the day of the auction, my mother
(Sandy) and I drove up.
We arrived at the auction and the attendance was
fairly light - about 75 people. I was surprised to see the
machine sitting in the grass with other household items,
but subsequently disappointed when I saw that the globe
(probab ly not original) was cracked. But all-in-all, still
a really good find. We scoped out the competition, won-
dering if any of them knew. I debated whether I should
ask to have the machine brought up early, but decided
to wait it out.
There were a number of quality household applianc-
es. I got an almost new brand name wall air filter unit
for $6 (they sell for over $400 in the stores). My mother
also made a purchase (see photo) of a taxidermy raccoon
($9) for her office Christmas party's white elephant gift
exchange. We waited almost 2 hours for the auctioneer
to get to the area of the machine. The sun was beaming
down pretty hard and people were hot and uncomfort-
able. Finally the machine was about to come up for bid.
The ring man picked up the machine and the auctioneer
shouted out "Up for bid is a Vintage Green Lantern."
The rmg man
corrected him,
letting
him
know it was
an old gumball
machine.
Eager to win
the
machine
and leave, I
raised my bid
card on the
openmg
bid.
The
auction-
eer turned his head sideways, and with a baffled look
asked me "are you bidding (the opening bid)?" I shook
my head yes. If we weren't already labeled "crazy" af-
ter my mother's bid on the raccoon, we certainly were
now. The auctioneer proceeded to cal I for the next bid,
but no one bid against me. Happy with my purchase
we scooped up the machine, paid and left. All-in-all a
wonderful addition to my dad's collection. Machines
seem to be getting harder and harder to find, and for us
it's truly a family passion. Keep hunting, there are still
many amazing machines out there to be found!
Taxidermy
Raccoon
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