George Washington Ice Cream Mold
EPPELSHEIMER & CO.
George Washington Ice Cream Mold
New York, ca. early 20th century
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Justin H. Adler. 1991.DA.10.29.3
The Adler Pewter Collection includes sixteen ice cream molds, all dating from the late-nineteenth or early twentieth century.
They include examples in the shapes of individual fruits, vegetables, and other foods (banana, peach, lobster, pumpkin, tomato, and roast turkey); objects (a basket and a baby’s cradle); figures (a football player and a bride and groom); and holiday-themed imagery including a Halloween cat and this patriotic bust of George Washington.
The history of molded ice cream dates back at least to the eighteenth century
when European recipe books described the treat formed and colored to resemble fruits and vegetables.1 In the United States, elite households also indulged in this confection by the late eighteenth century. For example, George Washington purchased two ice cream molds in May 1792 for $2.50, and a third in June 1795 for $7.00. Martha Washington used these molds to help her create and serve ice creams at weekly receptions during her husband’s presidency.2 However, a more widespread fashion for these sweets emerged only later in the nineteenth century. Frozen, molded ices were common treats from the 1870s to the 1950s.3
While most of the manufacturers of molds in the collection are unknown, a few, including George Washington, are stamped with the mark “E. & Co.” and a catalog number, in this case “1084.” Eppelsheimer & Co. was a New York firm that produced chocolate and ice cream molds. Opened in 1880 at 159 Bleecker Street near Washington Square Park, by 1920 the company had taken out a lease on the ninth floor of 34-44 Hubert Street, on the Hudson River waterfront in Lower Manhattan. Acquired by the American Chocolate Mould Co. in 1947, the firm stopped manufacturing metal molds by 1972.4
1 Mary Miley Theobald, “Some Cold, Hard Historical Facts About Goold Old Ice Cream,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal, Volume 32, No. 2 (Spring 2010).
2 Mary V. Thompson, “Ice Cream,” The Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington, The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, accessed May 21, 2026.
3 “I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream, Smithsonian Snapshot, November 7, 2024.
4 “Easter Egg Chocolate Mold,” American History Museum, Smithsonian, accessed May 21, 2026. According to the Smithsonian, the company was acquired by William H. Warren in 1910. In the 1940s it changed its name to “Eppelsheimer & Co., Warren Bros.” For Eppelsheimer & Co.’s New York addresses, see “Help and Situation Advertisements,” New York Journal and Advertiser (New York [N.Y.]), October 20, 1899, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; and “Red Cross to Move Headquarters to West 37th St.” New York Tribune (New York [N.Y.]), December 16, 1920, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
The Dixon owns a facsimile Eppelsheimer & Co. catalog
that advertises “Metal Molds for Fancy Ice Cream Forms; also Display Models.” Although undated, the catalog seems to have been published in the 1930s or 1940s.5 Filled with hundreds of different designs, the Eppelsheimer & Co. catalog suggests the general popularity of novelty ice cream in the United States.6 In particular, it lists molds for a wide array of holidays including New Year’s Day, Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday, St. Valentine’s Day, George Washington’s Birthday, Easter, Mother’s Day, Decoration-Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Each mold is listed with its catalog number, the name of the design, the quantity of individual desserts that could be made per quart of ice cream, and the prices for both the mold itself and for a “display model” depicting the final ice cream product. The George Washington bust mold could produce eight individual small desserts per quart and cost $2.00 for each mold. The display model cost 75 cents.7
5 The date of this catalog was inferred from a note in the catalog about mold 1168 designed especially for the Radio Corporation of America and featuring both RCA’s lightning bolt logo from 1920 and the image of the terrier named Nipper listening to “His Master’s Voice” on a gramophone. The American rights to Nipper were acquired by RCA-Victor in 1929. Eppelsheimer & Co., “Interesting to Know . . .,” A Complete Catalog of Metal Molds for Ice Cream and Display Models, (Eppelsheimer & Co.: New York, n.d.), Facsimile ed. (North Carolina: Dad’s Follies, n.d.), 2. “Nipper & Chipper,” RCA, accessed May 21, 2026.
6 Historians of ice cream note that during the Prohibition Era, ice cream consumption in the United States increased by over 100 million gallons, apparently sparked by a newfound demand for sweet treats in place of alcoholic beverages. See “I Scream.”
7 Eppelsheimer & Co., A Complete Catalog, p. 26.
The Adler Pewter Collection
includes one ice cream mold that seems to be accompanied by an original display model. Although not manufactured by Eppelsheimer & Co., an example depicting Cupid as Vulcan hammering at a forge is likely a Valentine’s Day design and includes a plaster positive that clearly shows the appeal of display models for retailers and confectioners—they were unmeltable illustrations of what the final ice cream product might look like.
Finished ice creams must have been a sight to behold.
According to the Eppelsheimer & Co. catalog, molded ice creams could be colored by using different flavors of ice cream in different parts of a single mold, or through painting, spraying, or dipping the final molded sculpture with food coloring: “Color designs of rare beauty and attractiveness may be obtained by using one of the methods mentioned or a combination of them.” The catalog also advises that “the appearance of Ice Cream Forms may be improved by the addition of ‘fixtures’, such as artificial leaves, flags, ribbon, and so forth.”8
8 Eppelsheimer & Co., “Interesting to Know . . .,” A Complete Catalog, p. 2.
Although the Dixon only owns examples of molds that were intended to produce individual servings,
Eppelsheimer & Co. also manufactured large molds including a steamship that required 4 pints of ice cream (and for which the company also sold add-on masts, ventilators, and sailors), a Santa Claus figure (6 pints), and a Statue of Liberty with its base that were molded separately and, when combined, stood 37 inches tall. This enormous confection required 10 pints of ice cream for the statue and a whopping 26 pints for the pedestal. At $35 for the statue mold and $30 for the pedestal, they are also the most expensive examples sold by Eppelsheimer & Co. Perhaps unsurprisingly the company noted, “Arrangements may be made to rent this mold.”9
9 Eppelsheimer & Co., A Complete Catalog, p. 3.
Eventually, new commercial machinery increased the automated production of uniform ice cream bars and novelties, superseding older, more artisanal methods of shaping desserts, including the use of pewter molds. Molds are now fun collector’s items, but due to the risk of high lead content in old pewter, antique examples should no longer be used for consumable ice cream.