BY RICH'S, LATE 18TH CENTURY

Honor boxes were commonly found in inns and pubs as early coin-operated vending machines. An English penny was inserted into the slot, depressing the plunger and then opening the opposing door to a tobacco compartment. The patron was then 'on his honor' to take only a pipeful of tobacco. The side with the slot collected the coins, with the keys cut to open one way to the coin compartment and the other to the tobacco compartment. These boxes were commonly engraved with the owner's or firm's name and dates. Similar boxes are illustrated in P., N. and H. Schiffer, The Brass Book: American, English and European Fifteenth Century through 1850, 1978, p. 114, figs. A-C.