# I'm NOT suggesting you buy this to use in your canning . . .



## Honduras Trish (Nov 30, 2007)

but I thought it might be interesting to some, from a historical perspective! I think these old, useful items are interesting and fun!

Vintage Toledo Cooker Co Conservo Stove Top Over Canner Steamer | eBay


----------



## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

I can hardly believe it...My Dh & I saw one of those just last week!! They wanted a fortune for it. I had to pass. They are waaay cool looking though!


----------



## Honduras Trish (Nov 30, 2007)

Texasdirtdigger said:


> I can hardly believe it...My Dh & I saw one of those just last week!! They wanted a fortune for it. I had to pass. They are waaay cool looking though!


What's a fortune? That one on ebay has the bidding starting at $90, plus $20 shipping. Was it more that that?


----------



## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Trish.... $375.... at an antique shop.


----------



## Honduras Trish (Nov 30, 2007)

Texasdirtdigger said:


> Trish.... $375.... at an antique shop.


OOOOOUUUUUCCCCCHHHHH! That IS a fortune!


----------



## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

WOW! I saw one at the action about 2 months ago. I don't remember how much it went for, but I'm sure it was less than $375!

edited: I looked it up and it was sold at the auction held June 19th and went for $5.50. Here is the page. Look down near the bottom for item #6299. No pictures. They take the pictures down after a month.

http://www.bidnow.us/cgi-bin/mnarclist.cgi?albrecht/20120620/category/OUTDOOR-LIVING


----------



## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Hummmmmm! I may go back and try to dicker with them. 

The one they have is in very nice condition. I was all over it... until I was {{{{{{{stung}}}}}} by the price. Even DH, who would never tell me "no", if I really want something, was taken aback. 

Like I said, it is an "Antique" shop..... They try to get premium$$ on all their goods.


----------



## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

How cool! I've never seen one before. I went to do some research...I'm fascinated by old fashioned food preparation and preservation methods.

I found an ad in a magazine from 1918. It cost $12 brand new. I should have saved the link to that, but didn't think about it. It was in The Country Gentleman book (? it said magazine, but it had 535 pages!) on Google Books. It was just a small ad beside an article by a woman on the "new" cold-pack canning method, lol.

I also found a link to a PDF copy of the manual, if anyone is interested. 

http://akro.home.comcast.net/~akro/conservo.pdf

I found lots of older hits for people looking for one, but this one was just posted in January of this year by a very nice man who did a video on YouTube. He flipped through the manual so you could see it and talked about some of the things it said. It apparently has a lot of recipes for steam cooking, as well as canning. He then steamed some shrimp in it. Here's a link to the video:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eybVhzIc6y4]Swartzbaugh Conservo Cooker Canner Demonstration - YouTube[/ame]

I know, I'm probably the only cooking geek interested in this, lol! Thanks Trish! 

P.S. Something I found out about them is that some were just made out of tin with a copper bottom, but some were all copper. That could account for the big difference in price.


----------



## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

I have one sitting in my shed, it`s kinda rusted out in one spot , but I`m sure it could be fixed. Mine has a copper bottom, and one shelf in it, it is kinda cool. > Thanks Marc


----------



## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Whatca going to do with it Marc?


----------



## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

I bet it sits in the shed where it`s been sittin for a good many more years. hehe > Marc


----------



## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

Thanks for the link, Callie. Just in case Springvalley digs that thing out, I want to know how to use it!! LOL...


----------



## Pelenaka (Jul 27, 2007)

calliemoonbeam said:


> How cool! I've never seen one before. I went to do some research...I'm fascinated by old fashioned food preparation and preservation methods.
> 
> I found an ad in a magazine from 1918. It cost $12 brand new. I should have saved the link to that, but didn't think about it. It was in The Country Gentleman book (? it said magazine, but it had 535 pages!) on Google Books. It was just a small ad beside an article by a woman on the "new" cold-pack canning method, lol.
> 
> ...


I bought one on Ebay 10 years ago but it didn't include the manual nor pans, just the racks. Knowing me I didn't pay more than $25 for it. It's been in the attic all these years waiting for me to give it a deep cleaning. Now that we heat & cook with wood I really need to get busy. It's been painted black, still has one of the long tubes. 
What appealed to me was that a whole meal; entree, veggie, dessert could be cooked @ once. Sorta the ulimate nonelectric crockpot. 

Thank you for posting the links. 

~~ pelenaka ~~


----------

