Mid 20th-Century Cast Brass Beetle-Shaped Boot Jack

Details

Description

Excellent Pre-Owned Condition

Funky cool solid cast brass beetle to be used for its intended purpose, boot jack, or as … Read more Excellent Pre-Owned Condition

Funky cool solid cast brass beetle to be used for its intended purpose, boot jack, or as a mid-century decorative doorstop or tabletop accent. For use as a boot jack, simply place the heel of your boot between the beetle’s “feeler’s” while stepping on the “body” of the beetle with your other foot, lean backward and pull and voila, your boot is off your foot!

Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s people wore a lot of boots and tight tall shoes. So, having a tool to help remove your boots came in very handy. One of the most popular designs of boot jacks in America, at the time, was the beetle shape. This handsome fellow is a mid 20th-century cast brass reproduction of a popular 19th-century cast iron boot jack “japanned beetle”-shape. For fun, I’ve included a photo of a boot jack advertisement from a Circa 1895 Markley Alling & Co. catalog, from which the listed boot jack was modeled after.

This quirky fellow measures 9½” long x 4½” wide (measured from the two feeler’s left to right) x 3½” high; weight 2 lbs. 2 oz. In excellent condition with age-appropriate wear. There were a number of metalwork and foundry companies casting book jacks in the 1940s through the 1960ss, one such company was the Lawler Foundry in Birmingham, Alabama, however, there is no makers mark on this boot jack. We believe this fellow was cast in the United States sometime in the 1950s to 1960s. Solid cast brass with a burnished brass finish.

Thanks for looking! See less