Antique Fire Dogs
Fire dogs, or andirons, are the paired metal uprights that stand in an open hearth and hold burning logs clear of the floor so air can pass beneath them.
Antique Fire Dogs
The form has been used across Europe since the medieval period. With the spread of the coal grate the pair became partly decorative, surviving as ornamental uprights flanking a basket and, in some patterns, as rests for the fire irons.
What you'll meet most often on Sellingantiques is a pair of brass fire dogs of 19th-century or Victorian date, free-standing uprights on splayed or arched feet. The word "dogs" appears in three quarters of titles and "pair" in nearly two thirds. "Andirons" is the same object under its other name, used in around a third of titles and often alongside "fire dogs" in one heading.
Iron is the main alternative metal, listed as cast, wrought or forged, and about a quarter of the archive falls there. Brass and iron are also combined in one pair. French chenets, usually bronze, gilt or ormolu, account for about one listing in ten.
A good number of listings are not the plain pair at all. Roughly one in eight sells the dogs with their fire irons, companion set or fender, and about one in ten is a cast-iron grate or fire basket standing on integral andirons, sometimes at inglenook scale. Sizes run from small tool-rest dogs up to monumental pairs, with stated heights of 86 cm and 67 cm at the tall end.
What Separates Them
Metal does most of the sorting. Unqualified brass and iron pairs fill the lower half of the range, while bronze, ormolu and gilt sit almost entirely in the upper part. About one listing in twenty is bronze or ormolu, and the French chenet is the form that most often reaches the very top.
Scale counts too. "Large" turns up in around one title in eight, and words like monumental, enormous and huge inglenook, along with the few stated heights, cluster well above the middle of the range. Weight is mentioned less often but points the same way.
After that it's decoration and completeness. Lions, greyhounds, dragons, cherubs, sunflower and claw-and-ball designs sit above the plain baluster forms, as do titles invoking Louis XV, Louis XIV, Empire, Baroque, Renaissance, Neoclassical and Gothic idioms. Dogs sold with matching fire irons, a fender or a basket run consistently above single pairs of the same date. Arts and Crafts is the one named movement with real weight here, tagged in a small share of titles.
Antique Fire Dogs Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for fire dogs, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
Around one fire dog listing on Sellingantiques in ten is a grate or fire basket standing on integral andirons, sometimes at inglenook scale.
The Antique Fire Dogs Glossary
- Fire dog
- The paired upright hearth stand that supports logs, and the term used in three quarters of titles in this category.
- Andiron
- The same object under its other name, appearing in around a third of titles, sometimes in the same heading as "fire dogs".
- Chenet
- The French term for a fire dog. In this archive it attaches mostly to bronze, gilt and ormolu examples.
- Cup dog
- A fire dog with a cup or bowl at the top, listed as "with cups" or "cup dogs".
- Tool rest
- A dog shaped or extended to carry the fire irons, described in titles as a fire tool rest or tool stand.
- Ormolu
- Gilded bronze or brass mount work, concentrated in the French chenets rather than the brass pairs.
Antique Fire Dogs: Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between fire dogs and andirons?
None. They're two names for the same object, a paired upright that holds logs off the hearth floor.
Both words turn up in titles on Sellingantiques, "dogs" in about three quarters and "andirons" in roughly a third, and plenty of listings use both together.
Are fire dogs always sold as a pair?
Usually, yes. "Pair" appears in nearly two thirds of titles, and the free-standing pair on splayed or arched feet is the standard offering.
The exceptions are worth knowing. About one listing in ten is a grate or fire basket standing on its own integral andirons, and roughly one in eight bundles the dogs with fire irons, a companion set or a fender.
How old are most antique fire dogs on the market?
The dated field runs from 1750 to 1950. Seventy listings say only "19th Century" and thirty-three only "Victorian", so much of the profile is broad rather than precise.
Where decades are given, the 1860s, 1890s, 1880s, 1920s and 1850s come up most. Around thirty-five listings are given as 1900s.
Do 16th and 17th century fire dogs really turn up?
Titles carry a scattering of much earlier claims, including 16th, 17th and 18th century, Georgian and Regency. The earliest dated claim in this archive is a cast-iron andiron carrying the year 1580.
Read those centuries carefully, though. Neighbouring titles use the same dates as style descriptions, phrased as "in 17th Century Style" or "C17th-style", so a stated early century in a title isn't the same thing as an early piece.
Which fire dogs sit at the top of the range?
Bronze, ormolu and gilt examples, which make up about one listing in twenty, sit almost entirely in the upper part. The French chenet is the form that reaches highest.
Scale pushes the same way, with monumental and inglenook-sized pairs above the middle. Figural modelling and named idioms such as Louis XV, Empire or Baroque cluster up there as well.
How often do fire dogs come up for sale?
About twenty-seven a year come to market on Sellingantiques, from an archive of 268 listings.
They've been listed by 104 different dealers, close to one dealer for every two or three listings, so the supply is spread thin across the trade.