Antique Fire Screens
A screen set in front of the hearth, either to catch sparks and block the heat of an open fire or to carry a decorative panel of glass, metal or needlework.
Antique Fire Screens
Screens stood before an open hearth in an age when coal and log fires heated the room. Some blocked sparks; some shielded a sitter's face from direct heat; some did little more than fill the fireplace opening in summer with a panel worth looking at. Both the adjustable pole screen and the larger free-standing guard were long-established fittings by the 19th century, when the pieces in this archive were made in quantity.
The category is overwhelmingly metal. Brass appears in 135 of 347 titles on Sellingantiques, with iron, copper and bronze together making up a further fifth. The split runs between openwork or mesh spark guards on one side and framed panel screens on the other, the panels holding glass, mirror, tapestry, needlework or embossed sheet metal.
The version you're most likely to meet is a brass fire screen or guard of the later 19th to early 20th century. Folding fan-form screens that open like a peacock's tail turn up in 22 titles, and mesh-filled frames are an everyday encounter. A smaller group is timber-framed, in mahogany, oak, rosewood or walnut, carrying embroidered or woolwork panels on cheval, pole or bobbin-turned stands.
Dates run from 1820 to 1930, though the labelling is often loose: '19th Century' and 'Victorian' between them outnumber any decade. Where a decade is given it clusters on the 1900s, 1920s and 1910s, with Edwardian close behind. Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau copper, and French gilt and ormolu work in the Louis and Rococo manner, form the two other substantial branches.
What Sets Them Apart
Material sorts the range faster than anything else. Gilt bronze and ormolu sit toward the top, and the French screens in the Louis XV, Louis XVI and Empire Revival manner cluster in the upper reaches with them. Plain sheet brass and painted iron, and the light folding screens, sit at the other end. Small Edwardian and Arts and Crafts copper guards occupy the bottom of the range.
Subject matter counts for a great deal on a category this decorative. Peacocks, phoenixes, dragons, storks, fish, cherubs, dolphins, musical trophies and coats of arms all recur, and a screen with a named subject worked into it stands above the plain equivalent of the same metal. Heraldic panels appear more often than the size of the category would suggest, from a clan coat of arms to a Dutch family arms chased in brass on oak.
Scale and completeness do the rest. Large and adjustable examples run upward, and pairs and screens that come with their companion set outrank singles. The highest-priced pieces are not English brass at all but a Japanese gold lacquer screen and a large Victorian screen; Far Eastern and Indian work of any kind comes round rarely.
Antique Fire Screens Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for fire screens, 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.
About thirty-nine fire screens are listed on Sellingantiques each year, and 110 different dealers have listed one.
The Antique Fire Screens Glossary
- Fire guard / spark guard
- A mesh or openwork screen whose job is to stop sparks rather than display a panel. 'Guard' appears in around one title in seven.
- Pole screen
- A small panel sliding on an upright pole above a tripod base, adjustable for height so a seated person could position it against the heat.
- Cheval screen
- A panel held between two upright legs or trestle supports, standing directly on the floor.
- Ormolu
- Gilded bronze or brass mounts, mostly turning up on the French side of the category and usually alongside Rococo or Louis descriptions.
- Repoussé
- Sheet metal worked in relief from behind, common on the Arts and Crafts copper screens and often described as embossed or beaten.
- Nursery fender
- A tall guard fixed round a hearth for a child's room, one recorded with a clothes rail and another with a brass top rail.
Antique Fire Screens: Frequently Asked Questions
What is a peacock fire screen?
A folding brass screen that opens out like a fan or a peacock's tail, closing flat when not in use. It's a genuine recurring type rather than a one-off, appearing in 22 titles.
Most are brass. One has come through as a pair, and the peacock also turns up as a decorative subject worked into fixed screens.
Are antique fire screens usually brass?
Brass leads the category by a wide margin, appearing in 135 of 347 titles on Sellingantiques. Iron, copper and bronze together account for roughly another fifth.
Timber-framed screens are the minority, in mahogany, oak, rosewood and walnut, generally carrying an embroidered, woolwork or tapestry panel.
How old are most fire screens for sale?
The dated field runs from 1820 to 1930, with 170 of the 347 listings carrying a clean year. The rest are placed only to a reign or a century.
Decade labels concentrate on the 1900s, 1920s and 1910s, with the 1890s and Edwardian close behind. A few titles claim Georgian, Regency, William IV or Queen Anne dates, but those sit outside the bulk of the field.
What's the difference between a pole screen and a cheval screen?
A pole screen has a small panel that slides up and down an upright pole set in a tripod base, so the height can be adjusted.
A cheval screen is fixed: the panel sits between two upright legs or trestle supports and stands on the floor. Both forms show up among the timber-framed screens.
Do fire screens come up often?
About 39 reach this market a year, and 110 different dealers have listed one. The category is spread thinly across the trade rather than held by a handful of specialists.
That spread means the mix changes constantly: brass guards throughout, French gilt work and Arts and Crafts copper in steady supply, and the odd Japanese lacquer or Kashmiri walnut panel.
Which fire screens sit at the top of the range?
Gilt bronze and ormolu, and the French screens in the Louis and Empire Revival manner. Large and adjustable examples run upward too, as do pairs and screens sold with a companion set.
The highest-priced pieces in the archive are a Japanese gold lacquer screen and a large Victorian screen, not English brass.