Denny wrote:Is this Columbia coin escalator top original with the rest of machine? Or an older version. Seller has 2 shipping charges $125 and $175 both too high.
I've wondered about these old/new hybrid-looking machines too. I've seen two or three like that before. This eBay example is obviously a "creative" repaint job, so the "restorer" may well have substituted an older turret casting to replace a damaged later-model casting that was originally there, before glitzing the whole thing over to match-up with the lower castings. However, if you look to the 1938 Columbia ad that Bueschel reprinted on pgs. 125-126 of "Lemons, Cherries and Bell-Fruit-Gum," both the Standard and Cigarette Bell versions are depicted with this identical assemblage of modernized lower castings together with the older escalator castings on top. So perhaps Groetchen dragged their feet a little in updating the looks of the escalator turret casting, or maybe they had a larger supply of older turret castings than the previous lower castings to get rid of, so possibly they actually assembled these hybrid-looking machines for a time... who knows? Anyone--?