Cast Iron Banks, Hooks, & Door Stops

In the early days before air conditioning, all of the windows and doors in a home would be opened. This would allow the cool breeze from the shade trees to circulate through the home, cooling it as it went. Sudden gusts presented problems with doors to rooms being slammed shut or closing and killing the life saving cool breeze. Well, some crafty individuals used a brick or stones, or other home-made item as doorstops, but these self-fashioned doorstops were not always that attractive. Someone came up with idea of combining Cast Iron and Art into doorstops that were affordable. So an artistic touch was added to homes that otherwise might not have much art.

This brought-on an Art Revolution in cast iron. From Wall hangings to doorstops and banks and things that just had no purpose at all, the Cast Iron Art Age was here.(not to be confused with the original Iron Age)

You can find anything you can imagine made out of cast iron. Many items are quite functional and some not.

We have a small collection of items that fall into the above categories. Here are some really neat antique reproductions. Most have been painted in the style of having been used and a look like you may have found it in an antique store.

I hope you find something you like, and add it to your order-- saving a little piece of past glamour for you home. When we run out of these, the likelihood of having them again is very slim. Manufacturers of these items usually just make one big run of them, and it may be ten years or more before they are available again.

Today, we don’t prop the door open too often, but these look great strategically placed along your baseboard or counter, or bookshelf. The great thing about cast iron is it’s easy to repaint to match you current decor--or as with the scratching cat, paint it to match your cat.