A friend restored an ice maker that had sentimental value and I am trying to learn more about it. Anyone know the age, brand or history of something like this?

I took a bunch of pictures and here is one of the top part:



And here is a link to more:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/112993581512332721334/albums/5670907297034786865

Thanks in advance.

If I had to guess, I would say it's a Hatsuyuki manual ice shaver because of the characters and sun symbol. I've never seen this one before but it's quite beautiful!

I looked around for images of the same one and did find one on this page:

http://girlwhoatetokyo.blogspot.com/2010/09/matsuri.html



I hope I can eventually learn more about it.

From the looks, it does indeed seem like a Hatsuyuki shaver. If you could find a antique Japanese shaver restored to such good conditions, it would be a great buy if you can get it for a good deal. I have seen antique manual shavers without restoration go as high as 500 dollars. However beware of knock offs. I personally don't have alot of experience in dealing with the old shavers, the thing is that back then so many companies in japan makes those machines...it could be any brand and alot of japanese companies at that time just replicate one another. However be sure you see the "made in japan" sign molded on the machine. There are some recent knock offs so beware of that.