Vintage Novelty Barware ‘Tap-Icer’ Ice Cracker, 1950s-1960s

Guaranteed by Good Housekeeping, the Tap-Icer claimed to ‘Crack Ice in a Jiffy’ with a photo of a woman holding an ice cube in her hand. According to the instructions found on an original box online: Put the ice cube in the palm of the hand. With the other hand, vibrate the Ice-Taper with wrist action and after a few light taps, the ice cracks into many pieces. Never raise it more than 3” above the ice. You’ll get best results if you tap it on a smooth flat surface of the ice.  The Tap-Icer can also be used as a mixer, muddler and measurer.
 
We tested it and may be doing something wrong. It did take repeated tapping to start chipping away at the ice cube. It did not break into many pieces. Perhaps we were doing it wrong, but now you know why we added ‘novelty’ to the description, regardless of what Good Housekeeping said at the time!
 
 
These were also called Ice Thumpers or Ice Tappers. They were reportedly popular in the 1950s. The Tap-Icer features a circular metal head attached to a handle made of metal. Ours is a silver tone metal with once red possibly film-covered coloring on the shaft of the handle. It is has the red missing in places and tarnishing on the handle and head which we were unable to remove with polishing.
 
H 10” x Diameter of Head 1 1/2”
 
Disclaimer: We have tried to make sure colors shown in photos are representative of the real colors of each item. We have tried to identify all imperfections in descriptions, but we may have missed some. If you are unhappy with your purchase, let us know