A backscratcher (occasionally known as a scratch-back or magonote) is a tool used, as the name would suggest, for relieving itches for areas that cannot be reached just by one's own hands, typically the back.

Composition and variation

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They are generally long slender rod-shaped tools, with a knob on one end for holding and a rake-like device, sometimes in the form of a human hand, on the other end to perform the actual scratching. Though a backscratcher could feasibly be fashioned from most materials, most modern backscratchers are made of plastic, though examples can be found made of wood, whalebone, tortoiseshell, horn, cane, bamboo or occasionally ivory. Backscratchers vary in length between 12 and 24 ins. (30-60 cm.).

Backscratchers through history

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Little is known of the history of the backscratcher, or when it was first used as a tool. However, in recent history it was unquestionably also employed as a kind of rake to keep in order the huge "heads" of powdered hair worn by ladies in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In the past, backscratchers were often highly decorated, and hung from the waist as accessories, with the more elaborate examples being silver-mounted, or in rare instances bearing carved rings on ivory fingers. The scratching hand was sometimes replaced by a rake or a bird's claw. Generally, the hand could represent either a left or right hand, but the Chinese variety usually bore a right hand.

Since becoming essentially obsolete as an appliance of daily life, the backscratcher has become scarce except as a cheap novelty item at discount stores or souvenir stands and it is one of the innumerable objects which attract the attention of modern collectors.

References

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Tools