Rat de Cave Candlestick

We love decorations with a history in both traditional and modern spaces. This Rat de Cave Candlestick comes from a traditional French design that was used by sommeliers in wine cellars. Check out its smart design:

The "rat tail" handle is made for carrying the candlestick. The spiral body of the stick has a lever at the bottom that can be turned to push the candle up as it burns down.

Comments (6)

Amazing design!! but would the wax be all over the spiral and hard to clean up?

posted by tattfoo on September 12th 2007 at 6:28am
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how ingenuous!

posted by chris_94131 on September 12th 2007 at 6:44am
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very phantom of the opera!

posted by Kat1 on September 12th 2007 at 7:08am
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I don't know about the rat tail handle, but the spiral design is what is known as a courting candle or dating candle. Supposedly, if a girl was being courted a by a young man, her father could raise or lower the candle so it could burn longer or shorter depending on how long he would like the young man to stay. And yes, the wax does get on the spiral part!

posted by elgrabo on September 12th 2007 at 8:44am
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I have heard that dating story many times, too.

posted by Mid-C Frank on September 12th 2007 at 9:24am
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This is a trick from Martha Steward but if you put glass or metal candlesticks in the freezer overnight, the wax will harden and reduce in size, making it much easier to chip off. And in the case of small glass votives, will come right out.

posted by azure on September 13th 2007 at 7:05am
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