The Model 500 cash registers were the largest ones made by National Cash Register Company. This brass register came with eight drawers, which meant that different store clerks could use it at the same time. It was also the most expensive machine produced at the time, with prices ranging from $315 to $555.
This cash register was expressly built for the A. McMillan Jewelry store located at 82 Sparks Street. The store on Ottawa’s main commercial strip was noted to have the best assorted stock of jewelry in Canada – making it unfortunately very prone to theft, including a sensational daylight diamond robbery in 1909 and some twenty years earlier a theft (which involved a fake priest) of several watches.
Note that the three display cases from the jewelry store, seen here on the postcard, are also in the care of the Bytown Museum. The three cases were just recently restored and two are now in use on the third floor of the museum.
Electric Cash Register, Bytown Museum, O30, Photo: Graham Iddon © Bytown Museum, 2010.
Postcard of Interior of A. McMillan Jewelry Store, 82 Sparks St. Ottawa, Ontario, Bytown Museum, P56.
