Posted 3 years ago
kwqd
(1122 items)
This trivet is 6.5" long x 5.5" wide and about .875" high. There is no maker's mark on it. It weighs 2 lbs and 3 ounces and is a bit of a chunk. Since I have been spending some time in collecting and learning about Japanese trivets, I decided to take a quick look at US made trivets from the 20th century. This one was very inexpensive but still interesting. No idea where it was made, but guessing from a local Wisconsin foundry. I sent an email to the county historical society to see if they have any information about the maker. An image search of the city did not show any buildings matching the one on the trivet, so guessing it has been torn down. The casting is good but the finishing is poor. The edges are roughly ground, with prominent grinding marks. The feet at the top and bottom are a bit longer than the side feet, so the trivet rocks a bit from side to side. This could have been a very good quality trivet with a bit more work in polishing the edges and leveling the feet. What appears to be a hole at the top of the trivet does not go all the way through and cannot be drilled out as it sits directly over one of the feet. Not a horrible deal for the small amount I paid for it but the poor craftsmanship is disappointing. Calling it a mystery until I hear from the county historical society.
Are you having a trivet moment Kevin? Or only now showing your collection.
Not that I care it's just interesting to see and read about them all!
Hey Karen, this one is "new". I have quite a few US made trivets by a company called Wilton which was active 1898-1989. There were many US foundries that made trivets, however, and learning about Japanese trivets has stirred my interest in some of the smaller US foundries that made trivets, so I have looked around for some low hanging fruit, mostly advertising trivets from the second half the 20th century, just to get a feel for what was going on in the US during the period of the Japanese trivets I have been looking at. I probably won't spend a lot of time on this as most of these foundries went out of business decades ago and collectors have driven the cost of their work higher than I am willing to pay. I've just added a few non-Wilton trivets to my pile. I will keep buying Japanese trivets when I can find them at a good price, but not going to go trivet crazy. I have a good sized cast iron cookware collection, so this is not a big leap for me.
Thanks for loving my Wisconsin trivet Karen, fortapache, Jenni, dav2no1, Kevin and jscott0363.
Thanks Thomas!