Monday, December 10, 2007

Art objects in the home: the antique toast rack


The toast rack is truly a remarkable invention, if somewhat obscure these days.

Toast racks were developed in order to spare clever Britons the shame and ignominy of soggy toast. If any of you have ever been forced to vulgarly stack buttered toast on a plate then you are probably entirely too familiar with the inconvenience of damp toast. Horrors! Of course, the racks are entirely unnecessary, which contributes immensely to their snob appeal.

I've been in love with these clever gadgets for some time. Like sterling silver ice cream servers, they are the kinds of accessories that speak to a sort of rare and gentrified need for comfort that seems to be slowly dying.

Apparently the toast rack is not so entirely out of vogue that it doesn't possess its own wikipedia entry (I checked) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toast_rack --though it's rather sparse.

This lovely sterling silver rack is being auctioned by Dargate auction galleries for $500. http://www.dargate.com/archivecats/silver.htm

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