Why are there so few actual doors in this category?

Fittings outnumber whole doors several times over. Doorstops alone make up roughly a third of listings, and knockers, knobs, handles, pulls, plates and bells take a good deal of the rest. Door leaves account for around one title in twelve. They come to market as salvage, when a building is altered or demolished.

What is a door porter?

The same thing as a doorstop. A cast body, usually brass or iron, loaded with lead so it holds a door open. Dealers use door stop, doorstop and door porter interchangeably, often within a single title. One Scottish entry is listed as a door keeper.

Which figural doorstops turn up most?

Lions, by a wide margin, along with lion's paw bases. Stags, fox heads, cherubs, wheatsheaves and dolphins recur too. Beyond those, the subjects run to a small menagerie: spaniel, Border Collie, Boston terrier, mallard, sheep, swan, dragon and snake head. Characters include Mr Punch and Mrs Punch, Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and an Irish leprechaun.

How old are most pieces in this category?

The dated field runs from 1640 to 1940, though only about a third of listings carry a clean year. Victorian and the looser 19th Century together account for close to half the archive. Twentieth-century material is substantial, clustering around glazed doors and later cast stops. Georgian and Regency entries are modest, and 17th-century material appears as a handful of oak doors, panels and locks.

Are chateau doors sold singly?

Usually in multiples. Pairs are standard, and sets of three, four or five French doors appear as single lots. That is where the top of the range sits, along with other architectural scale: a pair of early Victorian pine chapel doors measured at 10ft by 6ft, a 4ft Chinese painted cart door, a pair of 5ft Toraja Sulawesi tribal doors.

What materials besides brass and iron appear?

Bronze on knockers and entrance doors, oak and pine on leaves, and leaded, stained, etched or hand-painted glass on glazed panels. Smaller fittings widen it further. Cornish serpentine, Blue John, marble, plaster, ebony, porcelain and cut and amber glass all show up as doorstops or knobs.

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Antique Doors

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Mostly door furniture rather than doors: weighted brass and cast-iron doorstops, knockers, knobs, letter plates and bell pulls, alongside a smaller group of salvaged timber and glazed door leaves.