Category Archives: Toasters

The Hotpoint 129-T31 “Gazelle” Toaster

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Gazelle motif on the Edison General Electric 129-T31

Gazelle motif on the Edison General Electric 129-T31

I’m sorry to be doing another post on a toaster just a few months after the one on my Toastmaster 1A1, but I didn’t think I would be adding to the collection what I considered the “Holy Grail” of vintage toasters so soon. When Chris was visiting his family in Florida earlier this month he stopped in at the Wildwood Antique Mall in Ocala and stumbled across a toaster. He took a chance and picked it, hoping that it was the one that I have been searching for.


Designed by Raymond E. Patten in 1932 for the Hotpoint appliance division of the Edison General Electric Company, it was the most exuberant Art Deco design for toasters much in the same way that the Chrysler Building was in design for a skyscraper. After this, toasters became more streamlined and utilitarian. Because of its striking design, this toaster is a highly desirable addition to any toaster collection.

 

Introduced in 1932, it retailed for $7.95 the equivalent of $145.00 today. Chris purchased it for $62.00, which I feel is a good price. These toasters usually sell for around $150.00, before 2008 they sometimes sold for $500.00.

 

Here is a demonstration of the toaster in use –

 

Here are some detail photos of the toaster, including the original cloth cord and plug. Today many people are afraid of using this type of cord, but in my experience, I have not had any trouble using cords and plugs of this kind, as long as they are in excellent condition and they are not kept plugged in when the appliance is not in use.

 

 

This was one of the items to look for on my Brimfield list, now I’ll have more time and money to look for my chrome tube Art Deco chair.

 

Anthony and Chris (The “Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)

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Do it yourself: Restoring the feet on the Toastmaster 1A1

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Welcome to the first “DYI” post on Driving for Deco. A couple of weeks ago I purchased a 1920’s Toastmaster 1A1 toaster, in remarkably good shape. One condition issue was its missing original, rubber feet.

Toaster with its missing feet.

Toaster with its missing feet.

 

Close up of missing foot.

Close up detail of missing foot.

 

Chris came up with a great idea, using rubber washers to replace the long missing original feet. I purchased two packages of 1/4″ rubber grommets (two grommets to a package) at a local hardware store. They worked beautifully. Here is a video that demonstrates how to attach the grommets –

 

 

The cost of the grommets were $1.18 per package and the total time to attach them was about one minute. This is a great “Do it Yourself” project because anybody can do it in no time flat. Here are a couple of pictures showing the finished project.

 

Restored Feet

Restored Feet

 

Close up of one of the restored feet.

Close up of one of the restored feet.

 

Chris & Anthony (The Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)

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New Weekend Find!

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Name plate and serial number.

Name plate and serial number.

 

This past weekend, while attending a film festival in Syracuse, New York, I took a bit of time off from watching movies and went downtown to photograph a couple of Art Deco buildings. When finished taking pictures, I stopped in at the Syracuse Antiques Exchange , a four-story antique mall just north of downtown. I wasn’t planning to buy anything, until I came across a 1920’s toaster (as I said in an earlier post, I like kitchen collectibles). The Toastmaster 1A1 was a product of the Waters-Genter Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota and introduced in 1926. This was the first automatic toaster with a pop-up mechanism sold for home use. First year models do not have serial numbers on the name plate. According to the serial number, this one was manufactured sometime between June 1929 and August 1930. I haven’t been able to confirm this, but I’ve heard the original retail price was $25.00 ($330.00, today).

 

Toastmaster 1A1

 This makes the fifth vintage toaster that I have in my collection and I was not in the market for any more, but the price on this one was too good to pass it up, just under $20.00. It’s not perfect, there are a few spots of rust and the original rubber feet and the adjustable timing stud are missing, but overall it is in better shape and was a lot cheaper than other old toasters I’ve seen at flea markets or antique stores. The electric cloth cord is almost like new. And it works really well.

 

 

Detailed view of the operating levers.

Detailed view of the operating levers.

 

Above is a detailed view of the two operating levers, the one on the left is the pop up lever and the right one is the length of time the bread stays in the toaster. To make toast press the right lever down to the desired toasting time, then press down the pop up lever, this turns on the current (when it pops up the current turns off). After polishing the toaster up with my favorite chrome cleaner, rubbing alcohol, I gave it a test run. I set the cooking length at “D” and dropped the bread in. After a short time the toaster started sending up smoke signals and I hit the emergency release tab (the small piece of metal just to the left of the right lever) and what popped up was not so much a piece of toast, but more like a roof shingle. The second test run was much better and produced a perfectly cooked slice of toast.

 

Toastmaster 1A1

Toastmaster 1A1

 

So will this new addition to my collection ever replace my Universal “drop down” toaster, probably not. Is this the most Deco toaster ever made – no. Am I glad that I bought it – yes. This is the grandfather of all the truly Art Deco style toasters that came in the late 1920’s, 1930’s and early 1940’s.

 

Anthony

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