Toastmaster, Inc

Beautifully engraved Specimen Certificate from Toastmaster, Inc. This historic document was printed by the American Banknote Company and has an ornate border with a vignette of an angelic woman next to two world globes. This item has the signatures of the Company’s President and Secretary.






Certificate Vignette



1900 Max McGraw establishes McGraw Electric Company, Sioux City, Iowa.

1903 McGraw Electric reorganized into Interstate Supply Company.

1907 Max McGraw establishes Interstate Electric Manufacturing Company.

1910 Interstate Electric and Manufacturing Company formed. It combined Interstate Supply and Interstate Manufacturing into one company.

1912 Joseph R. Lehmer Company acquired by Interstate Electric and Manufacturing Company. The two companies are combined into a new McGraw Electric Company. McGraw Electric Company established a utility, Central Electric and Gas Company in South Dakota, which, in turn, established a subsidiary, Central Telephone.

1919 Charles Strite applies for a patent for the first automatic pop-up toaster, which was intended to be sold to the restaurant trade.

1921 Waters Genter Company is formed to manufacture Strite's toaster and market it to restaurants.

1926 The Waters Genter Company begins selling the Toastmaster model 1-A-1, the first automatic pop-up toaster made for home use. McGraw Electric acquired the Bersted Manufacturing Company, Chicago; the wholesale operation of McGraw Electric sold to Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company.

1928 McGraw Electric acquired the Clark Water Heater Company, and the Bussmann Company (fuses).

1929 McGraw Electric acquired Waters Genter Company, Minneapolis (Toastmaster) from Max McGraw who had bought it personally in 1926.

1930 McGraw Electric sold Bersted Manufacturing Company back to Alfred Bersted.

1936 Toastmaster toasters incorporate a pneumatic shock absorber for the bread carriage making for a smoother, quieter toasting operation.

1939 Hinged crumb trays are introduced on the new line of Toastmaster toasters.

1939 McGraw Electric acquired the "Focolipse" heater from Pitt Corporation.

1944 McGraw Electric's plant in Elgin, Illinois becomes a war plant, suspending production of its popular appliances for three years in order to manufacture projectiles including ammunition for the famous aircraft gun known as the "Chicago Piano."

1947 Model 1B14 is introduced. The toaster remained a staple in the Toastmaster line until 1961, winning the title of the world's most popular toaster for more than a decade.

1948 McGraw Electric re-purchased the Bersted Manufacturing Company from Al Bersted. Bersted, meanwhile, had acquired United Electrical Manufacturing Company, Adrian, Michigan, ("Eskimo" fans); Swartzbaugh Manufacturing Company, Toledo, ("Everhot" appliances); and Manning-Bowman & Company, Meriden, Connecticut (appliances); acquired the "Tip-Toe" iron from Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company; acquired Edison of Canada Limited.

1949 McGraw Electric acquired Line Material Company, Canada (power line equipment).

1950 The Toastmaster "Powermatic" self-lowering toaster is introduced (model 1B16). Its improved "Superflex" time compensated for voltage surges.

1951 McGraw Electric acquired Tropic-Aire Incorporated (bus air conditioning).

1952 McGraw Electric Pan American Corporation established to engage in operations in Western Hemisphere.

1953 McGraw Electric Company moves its manufacturing facilities to Missouri.

1954 McGraw Electric acquired the appliance business of General Mills.

1956 Toastmaster responds to early signs of "countertop crunch" with the debut of the most popular compact toaster yet. Although the 1B21 weighed four pounds versus the 6-lb. market standard, it toasted any size bread.

1956 W. E. Moore & Company (industrial dryers), Speed Queen Corporation (home laundry equipment manufacturer), Lectromelt Furnace Corporation acquired.

1957 McGraw Electric Company acquires Thomas A. Edison Industries. Ingraham Time Products, founded in 1918, is part of the deal. Corporate name changed to McGraw-Edison Company. An era of significant expansion begins. Of acquisitions, Founder/President Max McGraw was fond of saying: "Never buy a company unless it's making money or seems about to go broke." Acquired Griswold Manufacturing Company, part of which it sold to Acquired Vermont Division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation (portable electric tools). Acquired Sancor Instrument Corporation, Neptune, New Jersey (precision gears). Acquired All-Over Manufacturing Company, Racine (hair clippers for home use).

1958 McGraw-Edison acquired Heatube Company (heating elements) and National Electric Coil Company. Sold Griswold to Wagner.

1959 Merged Canadian Line Materials Limited and Thomas A. Edison (Canada) into McGraw-Edison (Canada) Limited.

1960 McGraw-Edison acquired American Laundry Machinery Company (commercial laundry equipment).

1961 McGraw-Edison acquired Canadian Laundry Machinery Company Limited and Huebsch Canada Limited, and merged them into McGraw-Edison (Canada) Limited.

1962 McGraw-Edison acquired certain product lines from Federal Pacific Electric Company (utility equipment) and W. F. Meyer & Son.

1963 McGraw-Edison acquired the Daven Division of General Mills Incorporated (electric components).

1965 McGraw-Edison established Prestige Edison Limited, a joint venture with Prestige Limited, subsidiary of Ekco Products Company, England. Acquired Village Blacksmith Company, Watertown, Wisconsin (garden goods). Liquidated Thomas A. Edison (United Kingdom), and Pohatcong R.R. Also sold Medical Gas Division of Thomas A. Edison Company, Wood Products Division and Elgin Real Estate. Formed joint venture between Line Materials Industries Division and Secode Corporation, subsidiary of Magnetic Controls Company to produce electric utility control equipment.

1966 The world's best selling electric waffle iron, model W252, debuts. It remained in the Toastmaster product line until 1997.

1967 McGraw-Edison acquired Halo Lighting Incorporated (lighting fixtures). Sold the Lectromelt Furnace Division. Acquired Ingraham Company (clocks).

1968 McGraw-Edison acquired Toledo Kitchen Machines Division of Reliance Electric and Engineering Company.

1969 McGraw-Edison acquired the fibre pipe business of the Brown Company. Acquired Simplicity Products Limited (Canada) (home laundry appliances) and General Electric's power tool business.

1970 McGraw-Edison acquired Fairgrieve & Son Limited (Canada) (home laundry appliances) and some appliance lines from Landers, Frary & Clark (Canada).

1971 Painted and woodgrain appliances become increasingly popular. Decorative toasters join other fashion oriented products for the home. While chrome remained the most popular finish, some models were available with decorated front panels. You could also get toasters in harvest gold and avocado! Acquired Comar Electric Company (relays and switches).

1972 McGraw-Edison acquired Brevel Products Corporation (small electric motors) and the power tool line of G. W. Murphy Company, Houston, Texas.

1976 The Toastmaster Bicentennial toaster hits the retail shelves.

1978 The first model B700 two-slice toaster - destined to become America's most popular toaster - rolls off the assembly line.

1980 Seven executives form Toastmaster Incorporated following a leveraged buy-out of the Portable Appliance and Tool Group division from McGraw-Edison. The company is later purchased by Magic Chef, Inc., which is subsequently acquired by the Maytag Company. Welcome to the eighties!

1985 First under-cabinet toaster is introduced.

1987 A second leveraged buy-out by management acquires Toastmaster from the Maytag Company.

1989 The 16 millionth B700 series toaster is manufactured.

1990 The first cool touch, steel-sided toaster, appropriately named the Toastmaster "Cool Steel," is introduced.

1992 Toastmaster becomes a publicly held corporation following an offering of its common stock on March 3. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange as TM.

1996 The Toastmaster "Bagel Perfect" toaster targets a dramatic surge in bagel consumption.

1998 Toastmaster displayed three new appliances, including a toaster, designed in Germany by F. A. Porsche (an industrial design firm started in the 1970s by Ferdinand Porsche, designer of the original Porsche 911 sports car) at the January Housewares Show in Chicago.

1999 Salton Inc. acquires Toastmaster, Inc.

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About Specimen Certificates

Specimen Certificates are actual certificates that have never been issued. They were usually kept by the printers in their permanent archives as their only example of a particular certificate. Sometimes you will see a hand stamp on the certificate that says "Do not remove from file".

Specimens were also used to show prospective clients different types of certificate designs that were available. Specimen certificates are usually much scarcer than issued certificates. In fact, many times they are the only way to get a certificate for a particular company because the issued certificates were redeemed and destroyed. In a few instances, Specimen certificates were made for a company but were never used because a different design was chosen by the company.

These certificates are normally stamped "Specimen" or they have small holes spelling the word specimen. Most of the time they don't have a serial number, or they have a serial number of 00000. This is an exciting sector of the hobby that has grown in popularity over the past several years.