Brass in the bathroom.

Everything's chrome-plated today – the thinnest of steel, zinc, even plastic! You can usually tell because the weight doesn't seem right. And the workmanship is often sloppy and not made to last – which you notice when the thin layer of chrome starts peeling off after a few weeks and the metal underneath gets rusty. (We've seen real sponges left on chrome plate go brown in less than a week.) The next few articles we present are also chrome-plated – but with a difference: the metal below is solid nickel-plated brass. In other words, built to last. And rustless – we promise. All of them are manufactured in Germany or Italy with a copper content of around 60%.

Extremely sturdy – and good-looking.

There are a number of soap holders like this on the market, but not many of them stand so steady or look so good as the one we show here. The combination of brass brackets of different thickness gives it a well-proportioned appearance and feel – and it won't slip around like cheap plastic products do. The four feet are padded to prevent surface scratching.