Reproduction or ‘New Issue’ 7 Feb 2021, 5:45 pm

In my last blog I looked at reproductions of the old chocolate molds.  While I was doing my research and looking at all my molds, I realized that I had several I had thought for years were reproductions; they were not. These are chocolate molds that, although they are not as old as the antique chocolate molds, they are a special group unto themselves – let’s just refer to them as “New Issue”.  I had thought these were also reproductions but, they were actually made by an original mold manufacturer, using the original dies to stamp them. Please keep in mind that New Issue is a relative term as these molds were made 30 plus years ago.

These ‘New Issue’ molds are a group of molds that were manufactured in the late 1970’s to the early 1990’s by The American Chocolate Mould Company, New York.   The material used varied; some were food grade stainless steel others appear to be of a thinner type of steel. The American Chocolate Company used the old original master dies that they acquired with their purchase of Eppelsheimer & Co. in 1947.  Since this group of chocolate molds were made by a mold manufacturing company using the old dies they really are not reproductions, they are New Issues of the original molds. These New Issue molds, like the true reproductions, have no numbers or markings on them.  It is important just to be aware of what you are buying; these molds originally sold for about $5.00 – $10.00 each.   

Whether this group of chocolate molds are designated as ‘Reproductions’ or ‘New Issue’ all really depends on how one defines a reproduction.  Mr. Webster describes a ‘reproduction’ as “something reproduced; a copy”. These molds are not copies, but they are not originals in the sense that they were not made in the 1930’s by the original company.

 Pictured below as a group are the food grade stainless steel ‘New Issue’ molds, below the stainless molds are other examples of the ‘New Issue’ molds.  

Below is a ‘New Issue’ next to the original Eppelsheimer antique chocolate mold

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Do they make reproductions of the old metal molds? 8 Jan 2021, 8:02 pm

The short answer is yes, reproductions were and are being made.  You can spot a reproduction by: the material that is used (usually lighter in weight, the metal is not as thick); the detail is not as crisp; the metal appears to have been treated to give it an aged look; and most important  the reproduction molds have no numbers or manufacturer’s marks on them .  

Here are pictures of some examples of reproductions.  The first one a Victorian Boy has a picture of the original antique chocolate mold below it.  When you compare the two pictures you can see the numbers on the original mold and the difference in detail between the two.  Below the boys are two more examples of reproductions – a Victorian Girl and Father Christmas.  Note the stressed look of the flange on the reproductions vs an original chocolate mold.

Many of the reproduction molds can be found online and are being sold as reproductions.  Unfortunately they sometimes appear and are listed as “Vintage”  chocolate molds so just be aware and look for numbers.  I hope this blog is helpful. 

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What can you do with an Antique Chocolate Mold? 28 Feb 2017, 8:44 pm

“What do your customers do with the old antique chocolate molds?” , I have been asked that question many times.  The possibilities are numerous but here are some of the uses my customers have found for these wonderful pieces of art:

Mold chocolate with them;

Mold wax and make candles with them;

Mold chalk ware in them and paint it ( visit Vaillancourt Folk Art https://valfa.com  to see more)

or just display these old beautiful pieces of history and admire them.  Thank you to my customers who have shared their creations.

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question on chocolate mold maker mark….. 11 Nov 2016, 3:28 pm

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I received an email a few weeks ago from a chocolate mold collector and I thought I would share it with you…..

She said:  “I recently purchased a tin 6 1/4 in long by 4 1/4 in high double sided chocolate mold of a lamb lying down at a flea market in Mexico City.  The maker’s mark looks like the torso of a man with wings, and has letters over his head, but they aren’t distinguishable.  Do you know what it might be?”

I replied asking her to send pictures which she did.  Once I received the pictures I was surprised to find that this was a mark that in 45+ years of dealing in the old metal chocolate molds I had never seen.  My reply to her …

“Thank you for sending the pictures.  Looking at the picture of your mould it is European, I believe Sommet, Paris because of the way the bottom of the mould is finished.  It is marked with the manufacturers, number 2222 and it is matched #53 & #53.  It is also one of the few moulds that has the original clip.  The mark you found on it looks like a crest of some sort; this is a mark I have never seen….if I had to make an educated guess I would say that it is the mark of the distributor or agent who sold the mould. “

I love discovering new things, I guess this is one of the reasons I love the old chocolate molds, no matter how long you work with them and research, there is always something new around the corner.  I truly enjoy helping our collectors learn about their antique chocolate molds.  A special Thank you to Sarah for sending her question.

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Did the  Manufacturers of Old Steel Chocolate Molds copy each other? 26 Oct 2016, 4:11 pm

 [contact-form]  *All chocolate molds pictured are available.

The answer is yes.  There are a few examples in the picture above.  The Large display American Santa, 32” was made by Anton Reiche, Germany (One of four), and the smaller American Santa 10” appears to be almost the same was made by Eppelsheimer, USA.  The display St. Nicholas 20” was made by Vormenfabriek, Holland; the medium St. Nicholas 12 ½” made by Walter, Germany and the small one made by Walter, Germany.  The display ‘Walking Santa’ 20” was made by Anton Reiche, Germany and the smaller ‘Walking Santa’ 12” made by T.C. Weygandt, USA. 

The antique chocolate molds were tools that the chocolatier used to mold chocolate to sell.  At Christmas for example Santa’s were a great product so to compete the mold manufacturers had a tendency to copy a mold that was selling well from their competitors, possibly offering it at a better price.   In the case of T.C. Weygandt he was forced to become a manufacturer when he could no longer get chocolate molds from Germany in the late 1930’s as Germany was preparing for war.   This practice makes it challenging to identify the old metal chocolate molds.  Can you imagine in 3016 collectors trying to identify cell phones, cars or video games : Who made them; Where they were made; When they were made and How they were made? 

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Are old metal chocolate molds hard to find? 1 Oct 2016, 7:38 pm

[contact-form] If you think about it, there were only a finite number of metal chocolate molds made. Just so many copper and steel molds were made before plastic took over.  Then consider this: two World Wars created a desperate need for copper and steel and many molds were recycled for the war effort.  Also, when steel replaced copper and again when plastic replaced steel, the replaced molds were scrapped to pay for the newer molds.  Finally, there was no strong collector market for molds until the early 1970’s so there was no reason to keep the old, rusting chocolatier’s tools when they could be turned into a few dollars.  As a result, the majority of the finite molds that were made years ago were later destroyed (or lost) leaving only a small fraction of the numbers originally made for today’s collectors to enjoy.

The molds have become increasingly difficult to find but….You can still find the old metal chocolate molds occasionally at auctions, antique shows, antique shops or on the internet. 

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How does the subject of an antique chocolate mold affect the price? 19 Sep 2016, 2:57 pm

 [contact-form] Zeppelin two gondolas  – H. Walter;    Zeppelin one gondola – Anton Reiche

  High Altitude Research Balloon – Anton Reiche;   The Statue of Liberty – Anton Reiche;

Mickey Mouse – Anton Reiche. & 30+ Sitting Rabbits

The molds pictured above are priced from under $50.00 to over $2000.00; all are available for sale.

      Chocolatiers and Bakers who originally purchased the metal molds selected subjects that would sell well in their shops.  For example, they all needed a lot of sitting rabbits for the Easter season, so lots of sitting rabbits were in circulation.  In fact, we see far more antique chocolate sitting rabbit molds today than any other making the sitting rabbit the most common and least expensive of all subjects.   When you start seeing chocolate molds depicting rabbits on motorcycles or driving speed boats the prices tend to go up.   An antique chocolate mold of The Statue of Liberty ,  will have a very high price, because everyone knows her (even in Europe, where she originated) .    A mouse chocolate mold is extremely rare and therefore expensive, but because Mickey Mouse is well known, he is very expensive! The chocolatiers who selected  chocolate molds of a zeppelin or a research balloon were not nearly as numerous, resulting in few zeppelins and research balloon molds produced, making them significantly more expensive than a sitting rabbit

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Why are values/prices so different for old metal chocolate molds? 1 Sep 2016, 4:13 pm

 [contact-form] Same 20″ Rabbits – Same Price?

In my last four blogs we cover the important things to look for when buying a chocolate mold; condition, matched, material and marks. I hope that the information was a help.  When you are looking at antique chocolate molds another question that comes up – Why is there such a difference in the prices of old chocolate molds?   There isn’t a  simple answer but basically it comes down to subject, condition, age, size and desirability. 

Let’s examine 3 molds that look almost identical –

These three old chocolate mold are of the large 20″ display standing rabbit, you would think that they would be about the same price but their is a significant  difference. (Note:   the mold on the left it is a little larger but that does not make a real difference as it simply has a base that was not trimmed as the other two molds were.)

If you look at the mold on the left; it was made by Anton Reiche – Dresden, Germany.  It is a matched mold #34 & #34 and is marked “Made in Germany”  with the mold number.  The material is stamped steel that is tinned dating it to the late 20’s early 30’s.  Retail – $3800.00

The next chocolate mold in the middle was made by T.C. Weygandt – New York city, USA .  The mold is matched #11 & #11 and marked with the mold number #229 The material is  stamped steel that was tinned.  This mold because it was made by Weygandt, who made copies of Reiches’ molds dates to the early 40’s. Retail – $1200.00.

The last mold on the right in the picture was also made by T.C. Weygandt.  It is  marked with the number 229.  The material is stamped nickel clad steel, dating this piece to the late 40’s through the 50’s.  Retail – $825.00

The difference in the prices of these three molds is related to their age and manufacturer.  The older more detailed chocolate mold made by Anton Reiche is the more desirable of these three pieces and not as common as the copies made by Weygandt resulting in a higher price.

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Marks on old antique metal chocolate molds – 12 Aug 2016, 6:42 pm

[contact-form] This week let’s talk about marks or numbers/names that are stamped on the chocolate molds.  All sorts of questions pop up when you start looking for marks.

• Where do I find marks on the antique metal chocolate molds?
• What do the marks mean? Is it always the manufacturer of the mold? /what does it mean when the mold is marked with several names?
• Are any of the antique chocolate molds dated?
• Are all old chocolate molds marked?

Let’s take these one at a time:

1. The marks on an old chocolate mold if it’s a single figure are found on the flange (the flat metal surrounding the figure).  If the mold is a flat or tray chocolate mold the marks will be found on the steel frame of the mold.  The chocolate molds that are folding or book molds if they are marked you will find the marks on the bottom or bars holding the molds together.

2.  In most cases you will find the mold number as pictured above. More often than not the name on the chocolate mold was the agent for the manufacturer as the snowman illustrates.      In some cases you will find both the manufacturer’s name or mark and the agent.

3.  It is unfortunate that the manufacturers did not date all of the molds they produced, but we need to remember that these were tools and who would have thought that 50-100 years later we would collect them.  There were a few manufacturers that did date some of their mold;  Anton Reiche, Sommet, Walter, Vormenfabriek , LeTang and Eppelsheimer.  The dates appear in different variations but having the date  the old chocolate mold was made on it adds value.

4.  The manufacturers were not consistent in stamping their names or marks on the molds; as a result not all old chocolate molds are marked.  Almost all old chocolate molds are marked with a number identifying the mold in the manufacturers’ catalog.

*Check out our page with manufacturers’ marks to help you identify the different names and marks you find on an old chocolate mold.  If you don’t see a mark on our page feel free to email us at dadsfollie@aol.com.

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How do I tell the age of my old ‘antique” chocolate mold? 31 Jul 2016, 4:29 pm

 [contact-form] Materials used for old chocolate molds from 1832-1970

     The answer to “How old is my mold?” is not that simple but here are the basics. The material the chocolate mold is made from is our best clue.  When the chocolate molds were first made in 1830 in  Paris  the only metal material that was soft enough to be stamped was copper.  The use of copper presented a few problems the first being that the chocolate stuck to it so the solution was to wash the copper with silver.  This allowed the chocolate to release and stopped the copper from oxidizing.  Silver was expensive so the manufacturers moved to tinning the copper molds.

      In the early 1900’s the manufacturers developed a process to use steel which was harder and more durable than the copper, didn’t dent as easily.  The steel had the same issues as copper in that the chocolate would not release, again tinning was the answer.  The tinning released chocolate and protected the steel from rust. Tinned Steel was the material for chocolate molds until after the Second World War.  There are two exceptions one Plattinol (an early German version of Nickel plating steel with a goldish tone) and Solid Nickel Silver (developed by Jaburg Bros. in New York) both of these were available to chocolatiers to purchase at a premium, not many did order this material so few of these mold were made.  

      The final metal used for the old chocolate molds was nickel clad steel.  This became available after WWII (the late 40’s).  The nickel clad steel sheets could be made thinner and did not require tinning to release the chocolate.  Most of the old molds made by Vormenfabriek , Hornlein and Weygandt were this material. 

     If you can figure out the material your mold was made from you can get a general sense of when it was made.   Copper 1832-1910ish, stamped steel that was tinned 1910ish – 1948ish and Nickel clad steel 1950 – 1970.  As far as an absolute date… a very small percentage of the antique molds that were made were actually dated but I’ll cover that in my next blog about marks.

P.S. A quick way to tell if your old chocolate mold is copper is – check with a magnet it will not stick to it if it’s a copper mold.

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