The Nut-Pick Stand: A Base Pierced for Picks, a Standard With a Toothpick Cup and a Taper Holder

When nuts are served, the picks lie loose on the table, and toothpicks and lighting tapers have no place of their own. George Leonard of Newton, Massachusetts, received US 364,025, dated 31 May 1887, for an article of table-ware which, "instead of being designed as a cruet-stand, its purpose is to hold nut-picks, tooth-picks, cigar or gas lighting tapers, &c.": a base with a rim and a row of holes near its margin that hold the picks upright, a standard rising from within the circle of holes with a ring for carrying it, a ring and cup for toothpicks, a cup-shaped holder for tapers, and arms that support a nut-cracker or knife. He made the base as a horse's hoof inverted, with a shoe, as a matter of ornament. This rung works out how many picks the margin holds, then makes the stand in hardwood with a dowel standard, a toothpick cup and a taper cup, and sets it for nuts.