Peerless Pizzelle waffle maker

Bob Sylvester

New member
I have a cast iron Peerless waffle maker - for making thin Pizzelle waffles - has been passed down through at least 3 generations of my family over the last 100 plus years - the waffle making press has raised "PEERLESS" across the front - inside has a large diamond design surrounded by multiple small diamonds on both oval sides - handles are 15 inches long with a figure 8 shaped "S" clamp thru end of one handle that clamps over the other handle that holds handles together - one hinge at top holds oval waffle making halves together - there are no other visible markings - letters or numbers . My ancestors came from Italy before 1905 - either late 19th century or early 20 century - I would like to know when and where this Peerless waffle maker was made - is it possible my ancestors brought this with them on a boat from Italy over 100 years ago ? Thank you for your help or contact information of someone who can possibly help me with information about antique waffle makers.
 
Welcome Bob. I'm going to take a stab at this while I'm not an expert by any means. I'm under the impression that when immigrants came by ship, they brought only clothes and priceless family heirlooms. They would have had to pay for any extra shipping trunks so I would assume that cast iron would be out of the question here. Peerless is an American foundry so I'd say it was bought here and not brought here. Now I could be very wrong but everything usually boils down to money.

Scott
 
Hi Scott, Thanks for responding. I have tried looking up Peerless - have been unsuccessful finding any info about Peerless - are they still in existence - possibly connected - merged with another company - would their be any contacts or resources for further investigation. My grandmother was born in Philadelphia in 1905 - she told me her mother used this waffle maker when she was a child - hence, I suspected that it came with them from Italy - I had not thought about the possibility of paying a tariff to bring it into the country - I guess it could have been bought here in the US. Thanks again ! Ongoing research ! Bob
 
Welcome to the forum Bob Sylvester. If you could put up some photos of the whole waffle maker, base and waffle irons. That way we can help faster.
 
Thanks Bonnie, I did see that page with the pics - has some good info - does not really say where or when they were made. Jeff - see that page about waffle irons - at the bottom there is an icon that brings up a nice pic of waffle iron - shows both halves of the inside of waffle iron with two different designs - one design sort of looks like the radiating petals of a flower - the other design is a large diamond in the middle with smaller diamonds filling in the rest of the space. The iron I have has the diamond design on both inside surfaces - says PEERLESS on the front of outside of iron - one large hinge at top - handles are 15 inches long - one handle has a hole near end with an " S " shaped clasp thru the hole that clips over the end of other handle and holds handles together. The iron I have is in relatively good condition - not damaged - is still usable today - has lots of black scorching from what I believe is over 100 years of use - as a child 60 years ago I helped my mother and grandmother use the iron to make Italian Pizzelle waffle cookies holding the iron over a gas flame - about one minute each side - we made dozens of Pizzelle cookies - one at a time - in an evening over a several hour period. I now cherish the iron - just knowing the many hours over more than 100 years that my ancestors used it - my grandmother told me she remembered her mother making the waffle cookies when she was a little child - she then grew up using it her entire life - passing it on to my mother - letting me help to make the waffle cookies as a child. Hence, many hundreds of members of my family and their friends - over at least four generations - for over 100 plus years - enjoyed the waffle cookies made with this iron. Bob
 
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