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Cast iron horse head hitching post topper

In Animals > Horses > Show & Tell and Victorian Era > Show & Tell.
Animals674 of 8218A FRANK FAITH SCULPTURE MARKED SETTER DOG BOOKENDSShephards Call/ Found.
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    Posted 2 years ago

    bbmbr2000
    (29 items)

    Cast iron horse head hitching post topper
    **I have the ring that goes in the mouth it was bent so it's being repaired at the moment**
    10 " tall
    Weighs about 20 lbs
    I was looking for a way to date this... As I was told they still make them today. Without a a foundry mark how do I know it's antique.?

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    Comments

    1. dav2no1 dav2no1, 2 years ago
      Not a horse head hitching post expert, but can help some..

      Well..it's a nice decorative piece if anything else. Even if is antique how much value is there? Unless you have some provenance..a picture, written statements, etc. it's pretty tough to prove. A quick search shows tons of these.

      Some of the things to look for..construction, patina and wear. Obviously a real one would be outside in the weather. So you'd expect to see signs of that, as well as wear from actually being used. Your piece has a convincing base comparing to others. Also the weight is good. You can compare yours to known real ones. Lastly some research helps..where did it come from? What area? Are there other examples like yours in that area? Any historical pictures? A local historical society may help answer some questions.

      Some old ones..
      https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-1983304

      Yours has a distinctive style base..
      https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-1983160
    2. keramikos, 2 years ago
      bbmbr2000, Cool. :-)

      Yes, it can be difficult to ascertain the age, because you can buy modern ones on Amazon. :-(

      Dunno whether these ones were antique or modern (I suspect modern, because installing antiques outdoors almost invites theft), but the now-defunct Fry's Electronics store in Palo Alto, CA had some out in front:

      https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/frys-electronics-store-front-with-a-wild-west-theme-gm1179921475-330347175

      Some background:

      https://www.farmcollector.com/equipment/hitching-posts-now-rare/
    3. bbmbr2000, 2 years ago
      It was mounted to a piece of pipe and a friend's grandfather's ranch for at least 50 years of it's life. She told me if she ever had to move out of the house she would give it to me because 10 years back I had expressed how much I liked it. So she ended up losing the house and kept true to her word and called me out of the blue to come pick it up. This was in california and I believe her grandfather was a fish and game warden for years. He aquired a lot of oddities over the years.
    4. keramikos, 2 years ago
      bbmbr2000, OK, that sure sounds like it's probably antique. :-)

      How nice of the house owner to remember and honor her offer. <3

      Some more, assorted horse head hitching post info:

      http://www.bullworks.net/daily/20070708.htm

      https://patents.google.com/patent/US83899/en

      https://patents.google.com/patent/US341488/en

      https://patents.google.com/patent/USD4746/en

      https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07//2008-02-05__11-20-16Image5.GIF

      https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/orsing-around-nineteenth-century-cast-iron-hitching-posts/

      *snip*

      Black Cast Iron Melcher's Patent Horse Head Hitching Post, Detroit, Michigan, late 19th century, the base marked "MELCHERS/DETROIT/MICH" and "PATD MAY 21 1872," ht. 14

      *snip*

      https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/3705T/lots/1969
    5. jscott0363 jscott0363, 2 years ago
      Nice one Dave!!! There were many manufacturers of these over the years, but yours certainly appears to be from the Victorian era. In regards to which foundry cast this wonderful piece, it's hard to say. Truly a treasure my friend!!
    6. jscott0363 jscott0363, 2 years ago
      Sorry, I meant bbmbr2000. Very nice piece you have there.
    7. bbmbr2000, 2 years ago
      Thank you!
    8. apostata apostata, 2 years ago
      x insert roadlining southern states -Louisianac AC auctions
    9. apostata apostata, 2 years ago
      you get 2 versus 1 , so you get 20 lbs for 10 inch, so it is heavy casting , i think a sort of ( late)19 century street liner, does,not look like a fence top actually i think it is a rather well mould
    10. bbmbr2000, 2 years ago
      Are the newer ones not heavy casting?
    11. apostata apostata, 2 years ago
      it depends on the purpose and probably on the timeframe and geographics

      the weight was increasing because the cars came in the cities and the horses and the trolley cars interfere with the traffic , so less demand , so less bang for a back

      geography got something to do do with the southerners are more ornamental then in the north, got more use of pimping a park , they just planted hahaha, they used more pipe horses then doric style
      and the southerness used them more as porch entrance and the southerners got a more affilition with a type of greeck pillar style

      IMO this is a good mould , you stated it was pipe model , bit surprised not being an finial fluted coumpouneded horse-lionhead DORIC pillar , but maybe there are compatible ( hard to believe)

      personnely i don,t believe it is simple ware ( in slang called mardi grass horses)IMO this is a known mold late 19 century, a known patina , and i think it real and the equation makes sense , and i think it is quite well

      addendum DAve is right about the provenance and the paperware, but in this case it doesn,t matter because iron casting haven,t much intrinsic valua and the horse heads are seldsom signed, and collectors on this site don,t care at all, and almost never known the legislation , no sweat they are collectors not dealers

      well done congrats , nice
    12. apostata apostata, 2 years ago
      correction the weight was decreasing
    13. apostata apostata, 2 years ago
      northern people were of the cheaper pipe line horses for parks etc
    14. bbmbr2000, 2 years ago
      Awesome thanks for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it.
      As I mentioned it was posted on a piece of pipe but I don't think the pipe was original to the topper. It wasn't very thick walled pipe at all and appeared newer.
    15. bbmbr2000, 2 years ago
      Also doesn't seem to be a lot of buyers for this kind of thing any more at least not around here.
    16. dav2no1 dav2no1, 2 years ago
      That's what I said in my first post. Real or not, the value isn't much. Still a cool decorative piece and great story..enjoy it. I'd fabricate a cool mount to display it.

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