Exceptionally Large Copper Culinary Mould

Victorian

Circa mid to late 19th century | Possibly England

An exceptionally large oval antique copper culinary mould with a fluted plinth and decorated atop with what looks like a floral motif or an eight pointed star. This is one of the largest and most beautiful moulds that I have seen and may have even appeared in the Harrods trade catalogue of 1895! (see The Gen)

DIMENSIONS: Length 26 cm, Width 19.4 cm, Height 15cm.

SIGNATURES, MARKINGS & INSCRIPTIONS: Marked ‘121’. This mould is marked with the number 121 so it could be a Benham & Froud mould as the majority of their jelly moulds have a three digit model number. However, it does not have the orb and cross mark which would make the attribution definitive.

CONDITION: In very good condition, wear consistent with an antique age and use. 

All my antique copper comes in as found ‘unrestored’ condition with the years of history retained in the lovely patina created by surface marks made by ordinary kitchen use. The choice then becomes yours whether to have the item polished, or the tin relined, and a decorative item can once more become a treasured new kitchen utensil to be loved and used by a new gen. At times an item may already have been lovingly polished by a previous owner and the copper will show off its rosy glow. Whether polished or not, the patina adds to the history of the item and wonder of the stories it could tell.

REFERENCES: See similar large oval moulds that were auctioned at Christie’s on 24 May 2017, Lot 269.

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THE GEN

“Copper jelly-moulds are among the most attractive items of kitchen-ware. The range of shapes and sizes is virtually unlimited; as part of the batterie de cuisine of great houses, the moulds often bore the name of the house or their owner's initials. There are over five hundred moulds marked DWL (Duke of Wellington, London), in the Royal Pavilion Kitchen in Brighton.

Moulds were made of copper and tinned on the interior. Elaborately-shaped examples were used for recipes such as Constantia Jelly, so called from the Constantia wine (a sweet wine from South Africa) used in the recipe, ‘blanc-mange’ or ‘blanc-manger’ and ‘jaune-manger’, sometimes called ‘Dutch flummery’. Moulds for savoury and vegetable entrées were advertised under the names of Crawfish, King Fisher, Hare, Fancy Cutlet, Ham, Bird’s Nest, Ox Tongue, Chicken. Round ‘Timbale’ moulds were used for moulding rice and savoury timbales. Harrod’s Trade Catalogue of 1895 (available in reference libraries) illustrates and prices thirty-nine different shapes of copper moulds—and each shape came in a number of sizes! It would be interesting to try to collect every shape illustrated in the Harrod’s Catalogue—though I fear the prices will be very different today! An oval mould with fluted sides and a recumbent lion on the top cost 1s. 6d. for the 12-pint size, and an elaborate oval copper jelly-mould in the 1%-pint size cost 10s. 9d. Some moulds are specified as being either for jelly or for cake, and some have covers (viz. a ‘round melon mould’). There were also raised pie moulds with clips at the side which released the moulds from the pastry pie. One of these is illustrated in Eliza Acton’s Modern Cookery of 1845, and a similar example is shown in the Harrod’s Catalogue fifty years later.” (Collecting for Tomorrow: Kitchenware, Jo Marshall, Chilton Book Company, 1976, p. 44)

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