Who regognises what this is?

[badpenny]

Sally took me to meet an old friend at the weekend.
A man who for 50 years has been collecting antique machinery and displays them with great aplomb and style in his house.
They are there to see and admire, however there is no need to walk sideways in corridors nor are his walls festooned with decorative rust.

With over 50 machines to his credit I was impressed how his kitchen and bathroom looked like a kitchen and bathroom.

Then I saw this .........

Apologies for quality of photo, I still can't get used to using phones for taking pictures

The square tin tray is where the penny sits after travelling through the trunking above. As the tray tips under the weight of the coin it descends onto a pointer which intrudes through the hole and displaces the coin.

So who knows what it is............?

[pennymachines]

Me Sir! Me Sir! I do!

[bryans fan]

P M .Prove it! Tell us what it is then.
I thought it was from a Disc music player, like a polyphon.

[treefrog]

Funny, I was going to say the same thing, very ornate,

[slotalot]

I also thought it looked like part of a Victorian CD player

[badpenny]

This the other photo I took ...............

However if you read the title of this thread again you'll see I asked Who regognises what this is?

Which of course means having gogged something to gog it again.
A commonly used verb since I spent the money on new specs to buy this micro laptop.

I've just Googled "Gogging" and have decided to book an appointment at Specsavers immediately due to there being no Army Surplus Stores nearby. ........ those easily offended should not repeat my search.

[pennymachines]

Oh, I thought it was a coin-operated potato peeler...

[badpenny]

It's the only coin operated cheese grater I've seen in the flesh.

[pennymachines]

If you find yourself in the vicinity of Derby, the Yew Tree Inn, Cauldon, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, ST10 3EJ (adjacent to a cement works, about 4 miles from Alton Towers) is a well kept secret that should delight all eccentric collector types. I haven't been there for years, and recent online reviews mention a less equitable landlord than I remember and pungent aromas from the loos... But the working Polyphons and assortment of antique curiosities are still there.

This reviewer describes the experience well:

Not the easiest pub to find, being tucked in between the surrounding industrial works (and the SatNav won’t help much), but persevere and you will encounter one of the most amazing if rather eccentric pub experiences going. The old farmhouse style appears to be a typical rustic country pub from the outside but once through the door you enter a world that makes Antiques Roadshow look like a village jumble sale.

The pub has been in the family for decades and the current owner, the charismatic serial hoarder Alan, (who has been here for nearly 50 years himself and took the pub over from his mother) has spent the best part of his life scouring antique shops and car boot sales which has resulted in a pub that resembles an explosion at Steptoe & Sons junk yard. The pride of place goes to the 8 Polyphons (a sort of Victorian jukebox for the uninitiated) which have been restored to full working order (make sure you have lots of 2ps with you when you go). There are also working Pianolas, a huge collection of grandfather clocks, numerous commemorative jugs, plates and mugs, antique firearms, butter churners, air raid sirens, weighing machines, bottles, gas masks, faded newspaper cuttings, adverts, signs, 1970s Pirelli calendars, radios, penny farthings, rocking horses, a 3000 year old Greek Vase and even a pair of Queen Victoria's stockings amongst the fantastic collection of assorted jumble and bric-a-brac. If you are lucky and interested enough (and it is hard not to be), you will more than likely find yourself being enthusiastically taken on a guided tour by Alan who will point out the rarities and oddities.

The furniture includes a stunning collection of antique and unusual pews/settles, many of them elaborately carved and one with a spectacular marble back. One room has a selection of '60s style dimple topped tables. There are 3 functioning rooms with low ceilings and open fires and one with a dart board in case you forget that this is actually a fully functioning community pub. A fourth room to the left of the main entrance is cluttered up with bits and pieces that have yet to find an appropriate display spot. The beers may appear almost secondary in such a place but the 3 ales (Bass, Burton Bridge and a mild that I didn’t note) were well kept and, in line with the pub in general, the Carling dispenser was also a 1970s relic, not out of place alongside the Watneys lampshades. The till is of course a shiny old pre-decimal “kerching” job with all the knobs and buttons and you still expect a pint to cost 5 shillings (sadly the prices, although reasonable, are a little more modern).

To add to the ambience, the music is also a throwback to the 30s and 40s and gives it a real authentic old time feel. Go there, enjoy the beers, the welcome, the surroundings and, after you have contemplated on who does the dusting and how much is the insurance, sign the visitors' book (it is on an antique school desk at the entrance). After a visit to this unique place where even the cobwebs are a highlight, other pubs will never appear to be the same again.

Images

[badpenny]

Yup ........... visited once yonks ago.