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 easily be reached just by one's own hands,
typically the back.
Composition and
variation
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
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.
taken from
wikipedia
have you scratched today? 
