So you wonder how these things start. This one is no mystery, it started with the lamp hanging in our back hallway. An electrified gas job with wonderful age to it, even older than the house and the only antique left by the previous owners. They managed to remove all other light fixtures and hardware, replacing them with new. Well, the lamp hangs a bit low and my worry was that some unsuspecting guest would bump their head upon entry. Oh, I do chide guests and family to use the front entrance to no avail. My solution was simple, get a cabinet to place in the corner that would stick out and keep folks away from the hanging lamp. As you have gotten to know wifey and I through these blogs, you know nothing is simple and the objects we end up with are not always what we set out to get. Some items are brought home and set in the basement till we figure out just what to do with them.
So cabinet hunting we went. A seller in Manitowoc, Wisconsin has a shop just off I-43 called Ebert’s and he has building after building of antique furniture, a natural place to start a search for a simple standing floor cabinet, like maybe a pie safe. Well, when we saw the antique ice box with paper labels still inside it was love at first sight. Not our love but that of the seller with his eyes on our cash. But hey, it fit and worked out perfectly. It holds our cans and dry goods.
But that just starts the story, at some point we added a milk card from days when there was door to door delivery, then an ice card, so the delivery man would know how many pounds were needed. The accumulation grew to include a butter churn and candle stick phone. 
Wifey has some pigs stuff and a pig butt photo.
Again, that’s just part of the story. I now collect Coolerator. While our icebox was not a Coolerator, I have managed to find several interesting items from this Duluth, Minnesota manufacturer with its history dating back to 1908, and ending 1954 after changing owners a half dozen times.
The first item was an ice cube maker. The device is simple but backwards to our ice cube making today. You see, the ice was brought to the house in block form. One could chip off a chunk and slip it in a glass if you could catch it before it slid to the floor. 
This device had fins in squared off patterns and on top a reservoir to hold boiling water. Simply fill the tank and set it atop your block of ice and the heated blades would melt into the ice. Now when you chipped away at the block wonderful square cubes would break off and land on the floor.
If you needed to chip the ice cubes off the block, Coolerator had this tool for you. This multi pronged ice pick would insure an even split across the bottom.
And if your preference was shaved ice, this was your device. 
I recently found a glass paper weight with Coolerator advertising. A give-away to their distributors and dealers. I needed to add it to the collection. I can only hope I don’t find more, as the top of the ice box is just about full, and what would wifey get rid of if I do find just one more trinket.
I also have seen Coolerator ads in old large format magazines but I’m reluctant to destroy whole copies just to have framed print ads. I’m not sure where open wall space is available for hanging prints anyway.
Let’s be honest, Cool is the guy with a Coolerator collection, and where else would anyone admit it, but here at Collector’s Quest.
July 29th, 2009 at 8:55 AM
I have a rare, undocumented in the company record arcives, pre 1933 Coolerator; all wood, inside and out, non electric, beautiful condition and complete. looks just like a refrigerator with a seperate top Ice compartment resembling a freezer. White on the outside, inside racks are solid oak. It is an ice conditioned model V-6. If you are interested in seeing it i can send pictures. Debbie
July 29th, 2009 at 4:53 PM
Debbie,
Please tell and show me more. Were did you get this Coolerator? You mention wood inside but how does that work with Ice blocks or is the ice compartment metal with a drain to the floor?
Your reference to model V6, is there a nameplate on the unit? Lastly, your reference to company archives, are they on-line or haw did you find them?
As you can see from my posting on Collectors’ Quest and from these questions, I’m somewhat of a nut about Coolerator. I had read that when the company closed the records were lost, so any info you can provide will be appreciated, and posted on my blog.
Thanks in advance for any info and pix you can share.
The Dean
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:17 AM
Debbie,
What a great view of the entire piece. I can see why the company struggled, the design is so 1920s, wood for shelving and still using ice. I’m also pleased to see the labeling, both outside and in, plus the paper label. My ice box still has its paper label also and find that strange, that cleaning and cold temperatures didn’t destroy the paper.
One of my favorite research sites is the patent and design numbers which you must have use to confirm when the icebox was made.
My day job takes me into all sorts of manufacturing companies including Sub-Zero the high end refrigerator company, Trane Company and Vilter on the commercial end. I had reason to research cooling a while back and discovered this site: http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3854
and this time line note:
1904 A self-contained mechanical refrigerator is displayed at the St. Louis World’s Fair
A self-contained mechanical refrigerator is displayed at the St. Louis World’s Fair by Brunswick Refrigerating Co., which specializes in designing small refrigerators for residences and butcher shops. The ammonia refrigerating system is mounted on the side of a wooden icebox-type refrigerator.
Thousands of attendees at the World’s Fair also experience the public debut of air conditioning in the Missouri State Building. The system uses 35,000 cubic feet of air per minute to cool a 1,000- seat auditorium, the rotunda, and various other rooms.
I’m also a collector and seller of old magazines, which gives me a view of the appliance world as it progressed over the years. That makes the unit you have such a rarity. Its not that the icebox disappeared from homes, but they were rapidly replaced with modern refrigerators heavily advertised after the war. And we both have the good fortune of having one that someone did not put to the curb as trash.
Thank you for sharing.
The Dean
August 28th, 2009 at 7:25 PM
Dean ,
An all-metal Coolerator (inside and out) came with the house I purchased. The house was built in 1923 and I assume, for too many other reasons to mention here, it was the original family’s first food storage unit. When I ‘inherited ” it, it was in the garage and used for bird food storage.
The inside is mint. But having been in the garage for 40+ (?) years, the paint/finish is dirty beyond cleaning. A proper restoration would reqquire stripping and repainting.
Generally speaking, because it does not have a wood exterior, is there an antique market for old metal Coerators? And if so, what is soething like this worth do you think? Or am I better off slapping it on Craig’s list and wait to see if there’s any one out there intrerested.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
dan
August 29th, 2009 at 10:51 PM
Dan.
You raise a dilemma. But lets see if we can work through some options. Your mention restoration, and if you have the type of decor’ that a coolerator would fit into, that’s what I would do. I’m sure a good body shop could handle that type of restoration even rechromeing the latches and hinges. We have an ice box that was refinished in our back hallway and store can goods with flour and sugar stored in the ice compartment.
As for selling, you mention Craig’s list, I only have second hand experience, but our daughter and son-in-law sold a car with an ad with incredibility speed that way.
An option is to sell “as is” through a local antique mall that will take consignments. Check some out and find one that has selling conditions that meet your requirements.
We do see metal ice boxes from time to time and while rare, are less desirable then wood, and usually priced at about half that of a comparable sized, wood one.
The Dean
Staff Writer
dean-ferber@sbcglobal.net
Please continue to view and enjoy Collectors’ Quest
January 17th, 2010 at 8:50 AM
Hello,
And thank you for reading my little blog on Collectors’ Quest, and would hope you bookmark us for future articles on collecting. We’re five individual writers with different collections and hope we can entertain and sometime stimulate your own collecting interest.
Best Regards,
The Dean
March 17th, 2010 at 8:34 PM
I was looking online to try to get an idea of what my Coolerator Icebox is worth when I came across your blog. The brass plate on the back states “Coolerator Model B NO 5303 Duluth Refrigerator Corporation Duluth, Minnesota”. It is about 5 foot tall, 21 inches deep, 51 inches long. It is white, appears to be metal over wood (manufactured that way). There is a long upper compartment for the blocks of ice and two doors below that. The door on the right has three shelves and the door on the left has two shelves, one of them being a deep shelf for taller bottles. It has a Silver colored metal plate on the front that says Coolerator.