Boot Scrapers, Part 4: Unmentionable

I came across a source that may well have supplied some of the iron for the stoops I’ve been featuring:

They have castings that look like some of the iron newel posts:

And cast-iron handrails in case a wrought-iron handrail isn’t fancy enough for you:

Random ornament:

And balusters specifically called out as for stoops, which look very much like some of the examples I’ve shown:

But what they don’t have in any shape or form are boot scrapers, even though they have the hollow-center balusters that are seemingly made for that variation. It could be that boot scrapers were a small enough part of their business that it wasn’t worth illustrating them in a catalog that was only 120 pages long. Another possibility – and honestly the first one that came to mind – is that the Victorians were uptight enough about bodily functions that they didn’t want to publicly acknowledge that horses defecate, and therefore that people had to clean the soles of their shoes before entering a home.

I don’t know. Maybe I’ve fallen prey to a stereotype. But it’s weird not seeing such a common casting variation in a catalog that has every other associated piece of cast iron for a stoop.

---

Part 1: here.

Part 2: here.

Part 3: here.