Tea caddy

This is a bakelite tea caddy we acquired recently. I really like bakelite and art deco, and this is both. There's a bit of info about it (the sugar version) here on ebay if you're interested. I am wondering if it should come off the mantelpiece and enter the kitchen where it can be put to its intended use.

What I would really like is a deco bakelite radio; they are common, plentiful and cheap, but the really nice stylish ones tend to be a really nice price.

Brings to mind an Oscar Wilde quote "We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless". Wilde predates art deco and I wonder if that might have changed his view? Quite easy to argue that this radio is both art and useful, and always was. If/when they switch off the analogue radio signal it will lose its utility, but I'd still put one on my mantelpiece.