Rare toast rack sells for £2,000 at auction – this is why
A VICTORIAN toast rack belonging to a couple for over 80 years has sold at auction for a remarkable £2,000. The rack which stood on their breakfast table for the past eight decades was a rare piece of work from a famous Victorian designer.
I put a modest estimate of £200-£400 on it as there is some slight damage but, thanks to its rarity and pedigree, it sold for £2,000
The modest looking tableware was bought by a newlywed couple from a vicar in 1936.
Incredibly, the couple were unaware this piece was made by Victorian designer Christopher Dresser in 1878 and is one of the rarest toast racks from that era.
John Keightley, of Hansons Auctioneers who handled the sale, said: "I put a modest estimate of £200-£400 on it as there is some slight damage but, thanks to its rarity and pedigree, it sold for £2,000.
"It did well because Christopher Dresser, who was born in Glasgow in 1834 and died in 1904, was a pioneer of industrial design based on form and function rather than decoration.
"Also, it was an original 1878 design embossed on the back with the words 'Designed by Dr C Dresser', which added to its value.
"The toast rack appears as modern today as it has ever been, with Alessi producing the same design today - angular, clean and simple.
"Designs like this were made for the forward-thinking Bohemian elite of Victorian Britain."
The seller, from Coalville, Leicestershire, who did not wish to be named, said: "The toast rack was bought by my wife's parents when they got married in 1936.
"They chose it because they liked it. They bought it, along with a few other bits, when the contents of a Church of England vicarage in Hogarth Road, Whitwick, went up for auction.
"They had no idea it was anything special and, when we acquired it, we didn't at first.
"We used it a few times but it's a bit wobbly and the toast fell out, so we put it away in a box.
"Later, we heard the name Christopher Dresser crop up on antiques programmes on TV and realised it could be something special."
The silver plated, steel rack was sold at auction for £2,000 on Monday.