Cast Iron Doorstops
Nantucket MA
2009

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/cast-iron-doorstops-149139

Doorstops are simply heavy objects used to hold a door open. Until the late Renaissance, rocks or bricks were used for this purpose. By the late 1700s, however, many homes utilized round, decorative examples made of sand-cast brass, or other types of metal with flat, hollow backs, according to an "Antique Trader" cover feature by Melody Amsel-Arieli.

By the early 19th century, the first French and English homes employed iron doorstops in a bevy of shapes. Some of these, says Amsel-Arieli, were called door porters and they came with long handles used to lift and place these heavy objects.

When found in pairs, it is safe to assume those doorstops were used to hold double doors open. They can be matching or in complimentary pairs like famed traditional British puppets Punch and Judy, for example. The value of these sets, as with other cast iron doorstops, lies in the condition and the theme.


Nantucket, a tiny, isolated island off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is a summer destination with dune-backed beaches. It’s marked by unpainted cedar-shingled buildings, many surrounded by manicured privets. The wharves and cobblestoned streets of the Town of Nantucket are lined with restaurants, high-end boutiques and steepled churches. The town’s Whaling Museum recounts the island’s role as a 19th-century whaling hub.