Five pieces of hand-forged hearth iron: a revolving bread toaster with twisted rails and heart and scroll uprights on a long handle, a meat roaster with a slatted rack on four hooked legs, a swivelling scrolled handle and a spiked bar beneath to hold the meat, a ring trivet on three legs with spear-shaped finials, a triangular trivet with twisted bars and a long handle, and a bird roaster with a twisted, forked upright.
Before the kitchen range, almost all cooking happened at an open fire, and the village blacksmith made the tools for it. Toasters held bread or meat up to the flames and turned on a pivot so both sides cooked, roasters held joints of meat and small birds on spikes and forks in front of the fire, and trivets kept pots and pans just above the embers. The hearts and scrolls were the smith's own flourish on an everyday object, and the hanging holes in the handles are where each piece hung beside the fire when it wasn't in use.
Condition: The toaster has some losses; the other four pieces are complete. Old surface rust and blackened patina throughout, with wear from use at the hearth. A length of later wire is wound through the toaster's rails.
