Hold that door! Doorstops have been around as long as doors

March 2025

Good Eye

Hold that door! Doorstops have been around as long as doors

by Peggy Whiteneck

These days, what with open-concept home layouts and modern-style sliding and other doors, we don’t have much use for doorstops anymore – except of course – as a collectible! As the name implies, doorstops, which were usually made of iron to make them heavy enough, were made to keep doors open when breezes or just the weight of the door would tend to make them close automatically. Sometimes, people just used a big rock for the purpose. In fact, the most expensive “doorstop” in the world is a 3.5-kilogram (more than seven pounds) piece of amber, millions of years old, dug up by an elderly woman from a stream bed in Romania and that she used as a doorstop. It’s valued at over $1 million! After she died, the piece was sold to the Romanian state and is currently being kept at the Provincial Museum of Buzau.

The first doorstops actually made as such came into vogue in the late 18th century, which is when doors began to be designed with hinges to close the door automatically. The earliest doorstops, made of brass in England, were used to keep doors open in order to freshen the air in rooms. Cast iron had replaced brass by the 19th century. Antique cast-iron doorstops were made in every conceivable form, both painted and unpainted: animals, baskets of flowers, houses, ships…You name it and there was probably a doorstop made in that form. Heavy cast-iron flat irons that were actually used in pre-electric days to iron clothes after the metal was heated over a stove have also been used as doorstops.

Perhaps the best known among antique doorstops were those made by Hubley, founded in Lancaster, PA, in 1894. Hubley’s earliest productions were cast-iron toys, but it began making doorstops early in the 20th century. One of its most popular forms was a Boston bulldog on a stand.
The oldest Hubley doorstops have a maker’s mark on the bottom and a mold number on the hollow inside (although later Hubleys had a paper label on the back instead of the earlier engraving). Depending on the form, some doorstops (such as the full-form bulldog and other animals) have a middle seam, which will be very tight in a Hubley.

Many of the cast-iron doorstops found today are reproductions. Antique doorstops in a three-dimensional form usually have a screw to keep the two sides together. The most important clue to antique status is the screw head. This will be a straight, slotted screw, not a Phillips-head screw seen on later imitations (kellyelko.com/antique-cast-iron-doorstops). Antique doorstops also have a very smooth surface, whereas later versions have a rougher or “pebbly” feel. These authenticity factors are important to know in order to distinguish old Hubleys and other antique doorstops from later imitations. Some doorstops, e.g., in floral forms, are figural on only one side and are forged in one piece.

Hubley wasn’t the only maker of doorstops that have achieved antique status today. Some other companies included National Foundry, Albany Foundry, Greenglatt Studio, and Bradley and Hubbard.

Coudersport Duck on Nest

This Judd Co. cottage doorstep sold on eBay on Feb. 2, 2025, for $135. The seller dated it to the 1930s. While I wouldn’t trust most eBay listings without verification, this one had photos that included the underbase, marked with the distinctive JCO hallmark for this company and the number 1283 (Numbers used by this company were four digits from 1242 to 296). It sold for $385. Another cottage doorstop allegedly of the birthplace of Sophia Smith, founder of Smith College, unmarked but featured in John and Nancy Smith’s book on page 135, sold on eBay three days later for $716. (Image courtesy of eBay)

 

 

The value of old doorstops can range from much less than $100 to several hundred dollars. As with any antique, value hinges on the factors of condition, desirability, and rarity. The doorstops have a collector club, Figural Cast Iron Club. You can also find out more information about collectible doorstops in “The Doorstop Book: An Encyclopedia of Doorstop Collecting” by John and Nancy Smith. Information on the club, the book, and samples of antique doorstops can be seen on the website, American Sampler (castirononline.com and castirononline.com/doorstop_collecting_book).

Extreme wear and paint loss will affect value, but few genuine antique examples won’t have some paint loss or other signs of wear. While extreme pitting or rust will negatively impact the value, antique doorstops should never be repainted. Painting in mint condition is very rare in a genuine antique.

Peggy Whiteneck is a writer, collector, and dealer living in East Randolph, VT. If you would like to suggest a subject that she can address in her column, email her at  allwritealready2000@gmail.com.

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