Kickstarter: Victorian Candy Equipment
Lofty Pursuits is trying to purchase 19th century candy making equipment to restore and put to use in their shop in Tallahassee, FL (There interesting pictures of the equipment at the Kickstarter page.). Usually I see the remnants of historical candies: vintage boxes under glass in antique shops and crumbling sugar in old wrappers. I once got to have locally made early 19th century-style candy (cherry berry pairs, much like having two hyper-sweet lollipops) on a historical tour, and it was just a fun to watch the candy being made as it was to eat. This is a bit more modern and mechanized, but no less “lofty” in their pursuits of confection:
The equipment we will be getting is a candy press and 19 sets of interchangeable candy rollers made between 1860 and 1890. This is one of the largest set of rollers surviving. This is a single chance to rescue this equipment from gathering dust in a private collection or in a museum, and to restore it to candy production. The last owner of the candy part of this business has this original equipment, probably purchased for the firm around 1885. The current owner has worked hard with us to sell it to us at a price we can afford. He has turned down other offers that were more than ours where the machines would be in private collections or on display. Instead he accepted ours, because he too wants the machines to stay in use making candy. We will be acquiring 19 sets of drop rollers and a frame for them that were made by Thomas Mills and Brother of Philadelphia PA.
This is also the first Kickstarter project I’ve contributed to. :3 I hope this signal boost can help them get closer to their goal.
