Antique 5 Bunnies Around a Basket Chocolate Mold (04/14/2009)

Home > Worthopedia – Price Guide > Advertising >

Antique 5 Bunnies Around a Basket Chocolate Mold

Terms and Conditions for using our site

Antique 5 Bunnies Around a Basket Chocolate Mold

Sold For:

or Sign In to see what it's worth.

Sold Date: 04/14/2009
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Advertising

This Antique Bunny Chocolate Mold is part of a collection that my family handed down over the course of 5 generations of bakers.

My great-great Grandfather, Michael A. Baker, started his bakery in the West End of Pittsburgh in 1875. Originally a retail bakery, he and his sons would produce molded confections during the appropriate holiday seasons. After all 7 of his sons joined the business, Dad Baker retired and the sons changed the business. Now named "The Seven Baker Brothers Bakery" the brothers converted the retail business into a large wholesale bakery. As such, many of their famous items, including the molded chocolates were no longer produced.

In 1938, the 3rd generation of the Baker family -- and my grandfather -- Paul Baker decided to get back into the retail baking business and he founded Jenny Lee Bakery in Pittsburgh's Diamond Market, now known as Market Square. He quickly outgrew the space and moved his production facility to McKees Rocks in 1941. Utimately Jenny Lee Bakery grew to 14 retail locations by the mid-1960's. As a popular Pittsburgh bakery destination, Jenny Lee had a wide variety of products and resumed the popular chocolate molds during the holiday seasons. These highly sought after chocolate molds were now back in production!

As the years progressed, the demand for traditional chocolate molds waned and their production shifted from bakery produced to high production chocolate confectioners. The need for these molds was diminishing. Sadly, due to a dismal economy, Jenny Lee Bakery closed it's doors in August 2008, just 2 months shy of our 70th anniversary. As a result, these family heirlooms are now available for avid collectors and home chocolatiers!

This particular mold - Five Bunnies Around a Basket - is stamped with identifying marks "Van Emden Co of New York" (The import agent for Walter Hermann Molds) and "Gesetzl Geschutzt" (Which is the German phrase for "Patent Pending"), it is also stamped with the model number "5306". This mold is about 6 1/4" tall with the actual cavity area being 6" high. At the base, the mold is almost 4 3/4" wide with the widest point being more than 5 1/4" wide. The tinning is still in great shape even after years of production, t are no blemishes and the detail is beautiful.

The home production of Easter molds is a fun and rewarding event. With the proper techniques, it's easy to learn to do this hobby in your own kitchen - right at your stove top. We often used boxes filled with peanuts to set the filled molds in so that they remained level as they cooled and hardened. T are many sites online that can teach you the proper methods.

Thanks for looking and don't hesitate to contact me should you have any questions!