The wibbliest, wobbliest auction of the year: 400 jelly moulds and cake tins go under the hammer

A collection of historic jelly moulds and cake tins is up for sale over the next week or so.

The collection of 400 antique copper, tin and ceramic cake and jelly moulds were collected over the course of a lifetime by the late Mr Andrew Cottrell, an antique dealer who was fondly known as ‘Mr Copper’.

Bellmans auctioneers are handling the sale, which runs online via their own website and also the-saleroom.com over the next two weeks, finishing on July 12.

The condition of the moulds varies enormously, with some heavily tarnished and others – such as this lovely Victorian mould by Benham & Froud – are beautifully shiny.

“We always knew our father (Da) had many moulds, he would frequently tell us of his takeover of the marketplace being known to many in the antiques world as Mr Copper,” said Mr Cottrell’s sons ahead of the auction.

“If there was copper to be sold our father was the man for it.”

“He would often put out jelly moulds at the many fairs he exhibited at not to sell them, but purely to bring people in to talk about jelly moulds and if they had any for sale.”

Most of the lots are estimated to fetch somewhere between £40 and £80, though the odd piece – including this particularly marvellous Victorian tinplate jelly mould in the shape of a recumbent lion – should go into three figures.

The passion that has gone into the collection is only too clear, as Mr Cottrell’s children continue:

“Da could tell you all there is to know about a copper jelly mould, so much so he had even considered writing a book on it that was to be called Wibbly Wobbly!

“Da would tell us often he had over 700 moulds and his very own ‘copper room’ in place of your traditional utility room.

“Whilst this was a slight exaggeration, with somewhere near 400 moulds for you to enjoy, he was never one to spoil a good story with the truth!”

As well as jelly and cake moulds there are some: this one, for example, was made specifically for ‘Schamalzgebacke‘, a type of thick pancake eaten in Germany and Austria.