Collectors
scoop up
ice cream history
NEW
YORK: Ice cream, which has evolved from home-made fun food into a multi-billion-dollar
industry, has a colourful history that nostalgic collectors are scooping
up.
Everything
from hand-cranked ice cream makers, dippers and moulds to Dixie cup
lids with celebrity photos, postcards and advertising are finding their
way into asset portfolios. “It’s nostalgia. A lot of collectors are
anywhere from 40-70 years old and are remembering corner drugstores
with soda fountains,” said Duvall Sollers, editor, The Ice Screamer
newsletter, published by the 22-year-old Ice Screamers collectors club,
which has 800 members.
“Maybe
some are dealers and are looking for things that appreciate in value.
Even common material has gone up. Rare ones have gone up drastically.”
Scoops or dippers are the most popular items. These go as far back as
‘78, when William Clewell, a confectionery store owner in Reading, Pennsylvania,
patented a cone-shaped steel ‘disher’ with a handle. A key at the point
of the cone was turned to release the ice cream. Many variations of
this followed, and are worth $45-$200.
But
the highest prices go to scoops with spring and lever mechanisms from
the turn of the 20th century, predecessors of the ones used today. Unusual
models sell for $1,500-$2,000 or more, with a rare heart-shaped scoop
fetching $17,500 at a heated Colorado auction three years ago, said
Ed Marks, author of Ice Cream Collectibles and probably the foremost
historian on the subject.
“Not
many come up for sale. It’s not the rarest but the shape appeals to
collectors. Everybody likes hearts,” said Wayne Smith, author of Ice
Cream Dippers, available through the Ice Screamers club.
The
heart-shaped dipper, patented by John Manos in ‘25, would have sold
for $500, 30 years ago, Sollers estimated. The current price is generally
$8,000-$12,000, depending on the condition.
A
circa 1930s scoop with a sickle-shaped slicer that lops off the excess
ice cream at the top for a neat serving, is worth about $1,000, compared
with just $30-$40, 30 years ago, Smith said.
Steve
Doc Wilson, whose collection of about 200 hand-cranked ice cream freezers
is probably the world’s largest, has seen their value soar over the
past 20 years. Rare ones have gone up three- or fourfold in the last
few.
Since
Wilson launched his website about eight years ago, he has been getting
several inquiries from dealers and individuals each week on the value
of freezers.
“A
lot of the freezers carry memories of making ice cream as a family event,
especially on July 4,” said Smith, whose unpublished book on the subject
is in the Smithsonian library in Washington.
Antique
hand-cranked ice cream freezers, dating from their first patent by housewife
Nancy Johnson in ‘43, sell for as little as $15 to as much as $1,500
for a rare one made of crystal. Prices depend on the age, condition
and manufacturer, with the top brand being White Mountain (still in
business as a unit of Rival, based in Kansas City).
Before
their invention, ice cream was made by putting milk, cream and sugar
usually into a pewter pot that was set in a bed of ice and salt (to
lower the temperature). The mixture was stirred about every half hour,
adding up to four hours of patience before the pleasure of eating it.
Hand-cranked
machines shaped like a box, tub or pail speeded up this process and
salesmen went door to door in the 1920s to demonstrate their wonders,
using pint-sized miniatures. These specimens, worth $600-$800, are so
popular among collectors that replicas were made in the 1980s. These
still sell for $300-$400, even though with the advent of eBay, they
have turned out to be less rare than was previously thought, Wilson
said.
Pewter
ice cream moulds, outlawed in the 1960s because of their high lead content,
are also popular. Common ones in the shape of fruits and vegetables
sell for $25-$40, while those with holiday or transportation themes
or human shapes are worth about $50 or more. Those with Halloween or
other themes that appeal to other types of collectors can sell for $200.
Banquet-sized moulds, which make shapes that are then handpainted and
decorated, go for $1,500-$2,000.
As
time goes by, collectors wonder if their ranks will be replenished as
memories of buying ice cream in soda fountains fade. Meanwhile, collectors
quietly display their portfolios at home and insure them against loss
or theft by those who appreciate them only for their resale prices.
RICHARD
CHANG
REUTERS
[ MONDAY, AUGUST
04, 2003 02:26:32 AM ]
