Trying to help a friend find out what this is ?

[shaymus1968]

A friend of mines wife bought this at an antique thrift store and none of us has a clue what it is. It is made out of cast iron and has no markings.

[waywardangler]

I think it would work great for cutting bananas in half for banana splits.    I hope you didn't spend much if you don't know what it is.  Another conundrum.

After finding out what it is (see winffup below), it doesn't matter what she spent because it is obviously worth lots more!

[talesofthesevenseas]

I think (emphasis on THINK) what you have there is a kitchen gadget, a mincer or slicer for herbs. But I'm having trouble finding one like it to confirm this. I'll keep looking!

[winffup]

An old herb crusher, there's a similar one about 3/4 of the way down on this link

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.aaawt.com/images/795-193-194-199-202-203_tools.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.aaawt.com/html/main_house10.html&usg=__8niyzUs69H0NYrRJPpHolB4f2fo=&h=308&w=600&sz=29&hl=en&start=5&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=huZXqIwY13CLJM:&tbnh=69&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dantique%2Biron%2Bherb%2Bcrusher%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26tbs%3Disch:1

[waywardangler]

WOW! An $850 herb grinder!  Way to go Tales and winffup!  Shaymus, I think your friend's wife really lucked out on that purchase.

Check out lots 284,285, & 286...estimated $150-500 depending on age, feet, and size.  http://www.cowanauctions.com/upcoming_dates_lots.asp?page=6&SaleId=126

[shaymus1968]

Thanks for the replys !!

[talesofthesevenseas]

Here's another one, earlier, all wood. It's about half way down the page. No price listed:

http://www.antiquesathillwoodfarms.com/2495.html

[talesofthesevenseas]

The examples we've posted all look older than this one. I'm wondering how that would affect the value of this piece?

[KC]

Looks in good shape.  Betting from the late 19th century if there is proper wear/tear on it.

[winffup]

Keep that herb crusher away from this guy

[talesofthesevenseas]

I was thinking the same KC, it looks to be based on earlier designs, but the tapered, handles look like the style used in coffee grinders, meat, grinders etc. in the Victorian era. These would have been made on a lathe, which didn't become widely used until then. The earlier examples of the mincer/grinder handles we found online aren't tapered.

Really cool and still usable kitchen tool. I totally hope to find one of these in the bottom of a box of kitchen gadgets someday! Great find!!

[waywardangler]

Tales, I disagree on the lathe use.  Lathes have been around for centuries.  The fact the handles look machine lathe turned, probably on a copier, might lead one to believe the grinder is later. Handle styles, as you suggest, denoting the Victorian period definitely age the handles.  If you look at the link in my post for Cowan's Auction, the last post #286, has grinders with very similar handles.  No age is given but estimated price is still over $150 so the value is still there.

[cogar]

Why does that herb grinder look more to me like it was made of cast aluminum rather than cast iron?

[talesofthesevenseas]

Ya know I was thinking that, but the original post stated cast iron so I didn't question it.

[talesofthesevenseas]

According to the article below, aluminum wasn't commonly used until 1914. Although we are going to need to here from Shaymus1968 on that.

Shaymus, how much does this mincer weigh? If it is cast iron it would be very heavy, like cast iron pans are. If cast aluminum, it would be lighter. The color would be more silver if it is aluminum, as it appears in the photos (although this might be due to flash photography?) and it would be more black if it were cast iron.

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blaluminum.htm