A TOAST TO

OLD TOASTERS!

     Most people think of toasters as something they need around the house to toast sandwich breads, bagels or Thomas muffins. Yet collectors are attracted to old toasters not for their toasting attributes but for their classic design. Many toasters -- especially those created in the 1920’s all the way up to the ‘60’s -- look more like intricate design pieces instead of necessary kitchen appliances.

      Jonathan Bartlett, a New York-based collector caught the toaster collecting bug in the late ‘70’s. “My first toaster was a Model 1A3 Toastmaster and I only paid $10 for it,” says Bartlett. “It attracted me because it was heavy, no frills. Just looking at it gave me the message that this guy could toast the pants off all of them.” What Bartlett didn’t count on was the fact that once you buy one beauty like that, you’re hooked and sure enough, he became an avid collector.

     The first toaster appeared in the early 1900’s when Westinghouse and General Electric introduced the first toasters. The GE model was primarily a wire cage that held two slices of bread close to the heating element. It has a porcelain base and later on, the company added flowers and gold trim. That model today is worth lots of money, probably in the mid-to-high hundreds. Westinghouse, on the other hand, modeled its toaster after a flat iron and used a horizontal heating element. Almost all of these early toasters were based on the same idea: bread was toasted by moving it close to the heating elements without touching them. Then, along came Spencer Wiltsie in 1912 whose invention for the first time turned toast over automatically. Wiltsie’s slice turning door was a simple invention but it was improved upon by the wife of an electric stove company who figured out how to combine Wiltsie’s invention with existing percher frames (perchers place slices of bread on a wire support leaning against the heat.) Westinghouse leaped on the bandwagon and in 1915 launched “The Turner” toaster which they sold well into the 1930’s. Other companies joined this effort, trying to create new designs without encroaching on current patents. One of these enterprising companies created the “Flopper,” a toaster with cutout metal doors hinged on the bottom reaching an “A” frame towards the top. Floppers were popular into the ‘30’s as well. When the toast was done and the sides were opened, the toast fell out; some models even turned the bread automatically. Because so many of these toasters were manufactured, you can still find Floppers at garage or estate sales, selling anywhere from $15 on up. We also found a couple of them on ebay, starting out at only $9.99.

      The 1920’s brought “Swingers” into the market as active competition for the Turner and Flopper toasters. This toaster contained a swing basket with a double-sided metal cage that supported the bread. A turn of the knob flipped the bread and it was then branded with a decorative pattern, replacing the usual flat brown look. The Estate Stove Co. was the first in 1925 to come out with a four-slice toaster, using the swinger model. Then, in 1926, the Toastmaster appeared as the first toast to shut off the heat automatically followed by ejecting the bread after it was toasted. This neat old toaster was priced at $12.50 seventy-nine years ago, during the years when spending that kind of money meant a week’s wages. Manufacturers had to offer payment plans for buying these toasters but the public wanted them nevertheless. Today that kind of toaster would probably sell for around $150.

      Designs changed too -- especially in the ‘40’s. Gone were the spindly metal wire toasters. Instead the fat, thick shapes took hold shifting the exterior, decorative styling to interior improvements. Sunbeam even had a sensor which could measure the amount of heat reflected from the toast, effectively turning the toaster off when the bread was fully toasted. While advancing technology continued to improve toasting methods, art deco designs never returned and many toasters switched from metal to plastic. Many collectors believe that the most attractive toasters were made before 1960 yet several say that advances 50 years from now may indeed make them more attractive than they now seem. Chrome toasters with deco designs certainly seem more interesting than plastic but only time will tell. After all, isn’t what we are seeing here simply in the eye of the beholder? (Otherwise known as the toaster collector?)