What is this weird piece of Tupperware?

February 4, 2012 5:44 PM

Help my friend figure out what this weird Tupperware piece is. Picture and details inside.

My friend Evelyn found a weird Tupperware thing in her kitchen collection. She has no idea what it is or what it's used for.

It's definitely Tupperware, as it bears the symbol.

Picture is here: Tupperware. There's nothing in the pic to show scale, so I have to rely on Ev's description that it is too wide for a stick of butter, but too narrow to store eggs.

Looking at it, it seems pretty clear that the notch at the end is a clue, but no one, not even an actual Tupperware rep, can tell what this thing is for.

posted by ronofthedead to home & garden (12 answers total)

It looks to me like it was part of a stack -- maybe a pen/pencil holder or similar? I seem to remember they did some non-kitchen housewares at one point.
posted by apparently at 5:50 PM on February 4, 2012

My first reaction was that it must be a part of something else as well. It certainly doesn't seem to have any kind of utility at all on its own.
posted by ronofthedead at 5:53 PM on February 4, 2012

If it's tupperware it should have a mold number stamped on it. Then you can look it up in this PDF:
http://order.tupperware.com/ccm-pdf/partscatalog.pdf.
posted by thatone at 5:54 PM on February 4, 2012

I guess the catalog will solve it. But it looks a lot like the bit in my old hot air popcorn popper where you were supposed to place a stick of butter to melt it and put on the popcorn. Another possibility is maybe to put melted butter to roll corn on the cob in - hold cob on the right by the indentation, roll in butter.

Just making stuff up though.
posted by Miko at 5:58 PM on February 4, 2012

It does indeed have a number: 2425a-2. Said number stumped both the aforementioned Tupperware rep and your pdf, thatone. The current line of thought is that it's something quite old and/or somehow from overseas.
posted by ronofthedead at 6:01 PM on February 4, 2012

Perhaps the bottom of a grater assemblage of some sort where this would be the part that would collect the grated cheese or whatever and you could dump it out on the opening on the right? Maybe?
posted by stefnet at 6:01 PM on February 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

OK, based on the number I think I found it on this German (?) webpage. So it looks like the top of a freezer mold of some kind.
posted by Miko at 6:03 PM on February 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Here again via Translate - Cool Cubes
posted by Miko at 6:06 PM on February 4, 2012

There's a different kind of Cool Cubes which more resemble an American ice tray, so I'm going to speculate that this is a Euro Cool Cubes which fits smaller European freezers.
posted by Miko at 6:10 PM on February 4, 2012

Miko that eBay listing definitely shows the same piece of hardware. How it came into my friend's possession will remain a mystery. Thanks!
posted by ronofthedead at 6:12 PM on February 4, 2012

I have nothing to add except for saying that "Eiswürfler" is the best German word ever.
posted by Nomyte at 6:59 PM on February 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yes, we got an email from a non-member who said it is from the Nordic region Tupperware Preludio series, and it's a container that catches water when putting the Tupperware 2424 ice cube tray into the freezer. "The short answer is 'spill tray'," they say.
posted by taz at 9:37 AM on April 2, 2012