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Cash Registers to Ring in Big Sales at

Morphy Auctions’ June 20-21 Auction
Buying & Selling Fine American Art
DENVER, PA - With the majority of people now completing transactions
with credit and debit cards instead of cash, the focus in the checkout line has
Emile Gruupe, saw, you might hesitate and then settle on a large beige or grey contraption
shifted from the cash register to the pin pad. Modern-day cash registers are
bland, utilitarian machines. If you were asked to describe the last one you

with absolutely no character. This wasn’t always the case, though, as
evidenced by the wide variety of models available from the historic National
Cash Register Company.
Close to 100 cash registers made by National Cash Register Company
are up for sale at Morphy Auction’s June 2020 Coin-Op and Advertising
Auction, as well as more than two dozen registers from other manufac-

and stout, counter top and floor models will be featured.
Begun in 1879 as the National Manufacturing Company, the
Now Buying Complete turers as well. Bronze, nickel-plated, wood veneer, tall and skinny, short
Dayton, Ohio-based company focused solely on making the first
Art Collections & mechanical cash register. Designed by James Ritty, the new
machine was called “Ritty’s Incorruptible Cashier.” James didn’t
Fine Paintings consider himself an inventor; he was a saloon owner. Despite
having a booming business, he noticed that the saloon wasn’t
5230 Silo Hill Road, Doylestown, PA 18902 / (215) 348.2500 turning a profit. He suspected that his staff was skimming off the
www.gratzgallery.com / Wed. through Sat. 10 - 6, Sun. 12 - 6,
and by appointment top and came up with the idea for the cash register out of necessity.
By 1884, the company and its patents had been sold to two brothers:
John and Frank Patterson. They rebranded the business as National Cash
Register Company (NCR). By the end of the 1910s, NCR had sold more
than one million registers, employed 6,000 people, had bought out 80
smaller competitors, and controlled 95% of the cash register industry in the
United States.
Items can now be viewed online at morphyauctions.com. Viewing
items in their gallery can be arranged Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. with a
August 1 - 2, 2020
scheduled appointment. For more information, visit morphyauctions.com

at the
WASHINGTON COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS, Rt. 29, GREENWICH, NY
12 mi. East of Saratoga Springs, NY
$5

16 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles