German eBay

[Tom Neitzel]

Once in a while I like to just look at iron, waffle and wafer irons, on the German eBay  www.ebay.de

I fire up Google Translate in another window just to help understand the words.  You just copy the words and paste in the box and up pops the translation.

Anyway, here are some words to try.  It may surprise you, but the inside patterns we know as waffles are quite different in Europe.

Some really pretty, old iron.

Here are some words to try.

Gusseisen means Cast Iron.
Waffeleisen means Waffle Iron.

So to look for cast iron waffle makers you would put in Gusseisen Waffeleisen .

Oblateneisen = wafer iron
ZimtWaffeleisen = Cinnamon Wafer iron  (usually 6 traditional designs.  Taste good too.)

Lots of attractive iron.  Glad I don't live closer.

Just something different.

The search button is labeled Finden.

Tom

[Bill Corum]

Tom, that's pretty neat. Any photos of any neat German iron?

Bill

[Steve Butler]

Tom, have you bought anything in Germany? I have been trying to register on 2 proxy companies to bid in Japan without much luck.

[Tom Neitzel]

Not very much, the shipping can be a real killer.  I think I've purchased in Germany, Sweden and Great Britain.  The British are the worst for shipping cost.  Just dealt directly with eBay and PayPal.

Never done anything in Japan.

Tom

[Tom Neitzel]

Tom, that's pretty neat. Any photos of any neat German iron?

Bill

Here are a couple.  The first is the Cinnamon Waffle (wafer).  This is one I bought from Germany, but I have found a couple more.  Even just saw that they have electric ones.  The design is pretty traditional, each design is about 1 1/2 inches square.  A big, heavy iron with long, hearth style handles.

Here's the recipe.  Sent to me with the iron from Germany.  Tough to know when they are done as the cinnamon makes them brown to start with.

Recipe for German Cinnamon Waffles

You bake these waffles in a special heavy cinnamon waffle mold. It is rectangular and has six designs.

Ingredients:  (1 pound equals 454 grams, 1 ounce equals 28 grams))

250 grams all-purpose flour
125 grams butter
2 eggs
200 grams sugar
65 grams finely ground almonds
10 grams cinnamon
if desired: 1 tablespoon rum or cognac

Stir butter, sugar and eggs until they are foamy. Then add the almonds and the cinnamon. Now stir in the flour. Don’t beat. You will get a stiff dough.
Grease the mold and heat it high (until a drop of water dances on it).
Now put a teaspoon full of dough in each section of the mold and press the mold together firmly. Bake the waffles golden brown at medium heat.
Take the waffles out of the mold, break them apart per picture and cut the edges if necessary. Let cool and then ENJOY!!

[Tom Neitzel]

This is the one that is out there right now that caught my eye.  I'm not going after it but it would make a spectacular waffle.

There are several old children's toy flipping irons listed too.  Quite tempting.

Here's an example of one toy I did buy from Germany.  The series shows it before and after using EvapoRust to clean.  Rust just disappeared.

Tom

[Frank Mueller]

Also try a search for 'Kunstguss' (= art cast), to find decorative objects made from cast iron.  An astounding number of those are available on eBay.de, mostly made by Buderus.  The company name Buderus together with Eisen (iron) makes for another useful search term!

[Robert Bearfield]

cool.

[Steve Butler]

Thanks Tom and Frank, the workmanship is incredible. Especially like the stag in the last plate.

[Tom Neitzel]

Steve, that stag is the same as our elk (red deer in Europe).  The elk is an old world species that likely came across through Asia during the last Ice Ages.  They actually can interbreed.

It's fun to see some of the stuff in other parts of the world.  Go to

www.ebay.co.uk

and look at the vintage French enamel stoves.

Tom

[Steve Butler]

Thanks Tom. I really like listening to the red stags roar, much lower than our elk that have a higher pitch "whistle" even tho they are larger.  But, if you listen closely, their cadence is very simalar. One long note followed by 4-5 short notes. Always wanted a set of elk whistler teeth.

[Janis Berzins]

Very cool. Do you think collecting over there is as big of a hobby?

[Tom Neitzel]

Very cool. Do you think collecting over there is as big of a hobby?

I'm sure there are collectors since the prices tend to be pretty high in my mind.  I'm don't know if there is anything like a Griswold or Wagner specialty, but there might be.

Thinking about past history, I'm surprised there is much of this in Germany anymore.  During the hyperinflation period after WWI, until 1923, money devalued so fast some folks got paid twice daily.  And they didn't want currency, but instead hard goods like pots and pans.

Anything metal was worth a great deal so much of the cast iron would have been sold, possibly melted down.  The you have WWII and again the need for raw materials.  Just think of what was lost here in the US (to a good cause of course), then think of what it must have been like in a small isolated country like Germany.

Tom