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EFM Trivets and Translations From 1953-2007

Document courtesy of efm historian Richard Strouse, Emmaus, PA.

Every trivet has been photographed and dated from 1953 - 2007 for the benefit of collectors.

All trivets begin as an idea shared among a very small group. The theme is translated into Pennsylvania Dutch and a picture is drawn.
The pattern is made and cast at a local foundary. The trivet is then hand-painted by a single local artist. She will paint about 400 trivets during the summer.
The idea on paper becomes a finished product.
All the trivets made over the years are hung on the wall at efm in Emmaus.
The old efm building occupies an entire city block.

And now I know what EFM stands for..... Electric Furnace Man!

Across the street from us was the foundary where we got our castings. They were named Emmaus Foundary and Machine. They also had trivets with the efm initials and they made different trivets. So, it may be possible to find some efm trivets that are not ours.

Since I collect just about everything,the trivets fit right in

RY

Any complete sets out there forsale first year to current year. If so Please PM Me

I think the first one was sort of an ash tray,and one year they were was cast in stainless steel or al.

RY

They did some remodeling at the Trivet in Emmaus area and they took some of the trivets off the wall. I don't know where they are, but the new owner might sell some of them. Who knows?

The one trivet that PA dealer is talking about is chromed.

How do you know if one of these EFM trivets is original? Is there a stamp on the back of them or some other way to authenticate them?

Was at an auction the other week looking for some cast iron trivets for our wood/coal stove. Stumbled upon a 3 set -- two trivets and a base for them to rest upon.

They caught my eye b/c the one had " Ach don't talk so dumb" which is something I say too often. So I thought I just had to buy them. This one had a smaller Amish woman (black clothing and bonnet) in the center of it.

The other had "I speak English yet" which had a smaller Amish man (black clothing and hat) in the center.

Neither of them were painted. And never gave it thought to look on the back of these.

Just out of curiosity , how do you know they are replicated?

Thanks.

Return to page one of this thread and Richard provided a link to all the trivets. You can match your with the year and the translation.

It's a time consuming and expensive task to make the pattern for each trivet. I don't think they're valuable enough for anybody to go through the bother to copy them.

Hi, Did the original 1953 trivet/ashtray come with the wooden wall mount. Thank-you, Barry Santo

Probably not. It was a way for us to mount it on the wall.