In central Pennsylvania about 55 miles north of the state capital of Harrisburg, lies a quiet little town in Union County called the Borough of New Berlin with a population around 900. New Berlin has been around for over 200 years and is very proud of their history and heritage.

Each year on the fourth Saturday of August, the town has one of the largest street festivals in Pennsylvania, featuring traditional foods and drink, arts and crafts, historical information and for 17 years, from 1990 to 2006, a specially made cookie cutter.

In 1868, James Naugle, a tinsmith, came to town and purchased a small brick building on Market St. He opened his tinshop in this building and did business there for 56 years, until his death in 1924.

Mr. Naugle made and sold pots, pans, teakettles, cookie cutters and just about anything that could be made of tin. According to an article published by the New Berlin Heritage Association, he purchased stoves from a Danville foundry, which were shipped in pieces to his business and assembled by him. All newlyweds who purchased a stove from him received a set of his handmade cooking utensils.

In 1990 the New Berlin Heritage Association issued a limited number of reproductions of one of Mr. Naugle’s cutters and continued to release a different shaped one each year, selling them at the festival on New Berlin Heritage Day. The quantity varied each year from 250 to 750. Each cutter is inscribed “New Berlin Heritage Day,” the year, and its number (e.g. 331/500). They were custom made for the Association by Irvin’s Tinware in Mount Pleasant, PA. Only 2 years’ cutters were not reproductions of Naugle cookie cutters; 1992 – was the town’s Bicentennial and the cutter that year was a horse; 2005 was the 100th anniversary of the Narrow Gauge Railroad and a train engine cutter was issued.

There will not be a cookie cutter issued in 2007. A representative for the Heritage Association stated that they had made reproductions from all the Naugle cutters that they had available to them, so that unless someone else comes forward with any Naugle cutters to copy and the demand for them is high enough, there will be no more in the series.


Following is a list of the seventeen cookie cutters made for New Berlin Heritage Days:

Year Shape
Number Made
1990 Bird with back shaped to cutting edge – no handle
250
1991 Woman on rectangular back - no handle
1992 Horse with back shaped to cutting edge (not Naugle copy) – no handle
500
1993 Crinkled edge heart with back shaped to cutting edge with handle
500
1994 Crinkled round with inner Heart on square back with handle
500
1995 Lion on rectangular back - no handle
500
1996 5 Pt. Star on square back with handle
750
1997 Crinkled round with crinkled inner round on square back with handle
500
1998 Crinkled rectangle with inner heart on rectangular back with handle
1999 Fish on rectangular back with handle
2000 Dog on rectangular back with handle
500
2001 Pig on rectangular back with handle
500
2002 Santa with pack on rectangular back with handle
500
2003 Running Rabbit on irregular 5 sided back with handle
2004 Rooster on rectangular back with handle
350
2005 Train Engine (not Naugle copy) – no handle
350
2006 Standing Bird on rectangular back - no handle
275

If you can add any information to the above list, please let us know.