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For sale as pictured: a vintage early 1900s ice cream mold manufactured by Schall & Co, made from antique pewter (an alloy of tin and lead), and featuring a highly detailed three-dimensional image of an American eagle. This item is marked on its exterior as Schall & Co. catalog number 517.
Ice cream molds were popular from the 1870s through the mid-1900s. They were used by confectioners to prepare bespoke ice cream treats in a variety of highly detailed shapes. This was before ice cream was a common \"everyday\" item for most Americans -- changes in production techniques and the wider availability of below-freezing refrigeration would change that by about the late 1940s, but in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, ice cream was, for most, a very occasional luxury. As such, you might not just get a \"scoop\" of ice cream; rather, restaurants and confectioners would custom-freeze an ice cream treat in a mold (like this one) and then paint the frozen item with food coloring to create a really spectacular frozen delicacy.
The two most prolific manufacturers of these molds were Eppelsheimer & Company and Schall & Company (as here). Schall & Co, the first to manufacture ice cream molds in the U.S., operated out of New York and became the Krauss Company in 1860, which dates this mold (marked \"S & Co.\") as having been produced in the 1850s.
Ice cream molds are highly collectible and valued by fans of food history. In particular, the phenomenon of shaped specialty treats among the wealthy -- going back as far as America\'s founders (George Washington owned two ice cream molds that were used to serve guests at Mt. Vernon) -- makes these molds objects of interest. This item is a particularly hard-to-find example, featuring a patriotic American Eagle design, and would likely have been used to make shaped ice cream treats to celebrate Independence Day.
