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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: sapphire on May 14, 2011, 10:06:32 AM
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Dropped in to the yard sale at a nearby church and saw this. Reminded me of the old presses rolling around in the kitchen drawer at my dad's old family farm house. Just wondering if there is any way to gauge the age or should I just be happy with the memories it brings back?
It's actually much greyer than it looks here.......
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I think that we have some buried in the kitchen somewhere, called them shortbread presses, about 3 1/2" in diameter, with a thistle design. Yours look a bit bigger? Ours date back to the 50s, as I'm sure they belonged to my parents, they look as good as new as I'm pretty sure no-one ever made any shortbread in this house!
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The base is only 2 1/2" across. End to end, 6". Either it's been somewhere exposed to elements for quite some time or it's got a few years under it's belt. The old presses from the farm had slight cracks in a few, but from year and years of contact with butter had a very smooth (well oiled ;) ) surface.
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That looks to me like parts (handle and press) to a butter mold ...... minus the round mold itself.
Iffen yours had an eagle on it, you'd be looking at big bucks.
What it should look like assembled, to wit:
(http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/m/mEqb87WL5i2IsRJon54RfJg/140.jpg)
This is a bottom view of another one, to wit:
(http://www.tias.com/stores/rangerlala/thumbs/4357a.jpg)
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I've never seen butter molds like that before .. amazing what you pick up here! :D
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It'll be a nice conversation piece and something to bring back the memories of 'up home'......kind of like the whiff of crayons taking you back to your childhood. ;)
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Its possible that the wood has shrunk since the handle and base are separate. I have a few and all the presses are one piece for mine !! Or yours may have had several bases so they could be switched at the ladies whim !! Its not difficult to find the mold part. Sometimes they appear at flea markets if the press had disappeared !! I love old butter molds !!
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Mario gave me an idea with the mention of a shortbread press......I'll have to mix up a batch and start stamping :D
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I'm with cogar on this as a butter mold. I have not heard of a shortbread press before but I have learned something new about many things on this forum.
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Well if you thought I was going to whip up a churn full of butter you'd better give your head a shake :D
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Yepper.... a butter mold!
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Well now I wouldn't have any idea why one would want to press shortbread. ;D ;D ;D
Since no one has posted a picture of their per say "shortbread press" ....... I will take a gamble and buy all you got ...... at "shortbread press" prices, that is.
Because I'ma guessing what you are talking about having are in actuality .... "butter prints", ...... and if they are truly "oldies" ..... they are highly collectible and sale for the Big Buck prices depending on the "design".
For example, check this one out on LiveAuctioneers @ http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/4196234 (http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/4196234)
(http://p2.la-img.com/632/13651/4196234_1_l.jpg)
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Sorry Cogar ... Wrong! ;D
Shortbread presses or moulds are used for getting that pattern on shortbread rounds. They can be quite small, say 3" in diameter, or even bigger.
I was going to photograph ours, but apparently we don't have them any more as the two we had I re-cycled into wind-chime clappers a few years back when I was trying to find a use for lots of left over copper pipe sections.
But here is a traditional looking one, with the Thistle ...
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I've always known them as a butter press too. When I hear cookie press I think of the 'gun' with discs that spews out those elaborate shaped dough sculptures.
Then I dug around my kitchen drawer and found the 'non mechanical' version I'd forgotten I had, noticing on the box the name cookie stamps. So did a wee bit more searching using that term and lo and behold found this...
http://www.cookiemold.com/CookieMoldsCookieStamps.html
I think originally they were made for butter but over time became more of a multi use object.
My useful but oh so horribly plastic stamps......
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I make shortbread at Christmas and use my press (from the 90's). I think they could be used for both. Most on ebay say cookie press/butter mold so the debate may be never ending! :D
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We had some for shortbread as well...but were a little larger!
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Sorry Cogar ... Wrong! ;D
Shortbread presses or moulds are used for getting that pattern on shortbread rounds. They can be quite small, say 3" in diameter, or even bigger.
I was going to photograph ours, but apparently we don't have them any more as the two we had I re-cycled into wind-chime clappers
:o I thought you were talking about old commercial or hand-carved wooden ones, .... not metal or plastic ones.
When most everyone milked their own cows and churned their own butter ..... and some even made their own butter molds and presses, ..... or a local family dairy sold milk, butter n' cheese, .... was the heyday of "butter mold/print" usage.
Now somewhere I think I still have a commercially sold cast aluminum butter mold that was made by a T R Hall in 1950 and which is pictured on this website, to wit:
http://dairyantiques.com/Butter_Molds.html (http://dairyantiques.com/Butter_Molds.html)
And that above link I found will tell you more than you probably wanted know about molds and prints. There are some really neat ones pictured therein and worth the time glancing over.
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Wonderful article Cogar!! Even though some of those presses look like medieval torture devices ;)
Might want to include this in the Special Threads section too.
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Brilliant bedtime reading, Cogar!