IRON TALK: Journal of Antique Pressing Irons

Iron Talk was published bi-monthly 1996-2002 by Jimmy & Carol Walker, who were well known iron collectors from Texas. There were 40 journals issued between 1995 and 2002. Every other month a different topic was discussed. Each issue is in an 8 1/2″ x 11″ booklet format with 14-16 pages printed on heavy stock.

Past issues of Iron Talk Journal are hard to come by! Issued by subscription, today the majority of bound sets reside in the libraries of collectors. If you are an iron collector or a trivet collector who would like to learn more about irons, this is a valuable reference.

Below are the subjects discussed in the 40 issues of Iron Talk.

1995
9/10: Charcoal Irons
11/12: Tailgates (Irons) & Pressed Glass

1996
1/2: Tuesday’s Children
3/4: Reversible Combination Irons
5/6: Poster Stamps & American Fluting Irons
7/8: Travel Irons
9/10: Little Fluters
11/12: Secrets of Cleaning Irons

1997
1/2: Tanks for the Memories
3/4: Not Quite Sprinklers
5/6: Mrs. Florence Potts
7/8: 19th Century Hatter Irons
9/10: Scottish Irons
11/12: Basic Iron Collecting

1998
1/2: Advanced Iron Collecting
3/4: Record Keeping For Iron Collectors
5/6: Early Coleman Irons
7/8: Clothes Sprinklers
9/10: Little Swan Irons
11/12: Flatiron Building Collectibles

1999
1/2: Light My Fire
3/4: The Ephrata Swan
5/6: The Dover Family
7/8: Provenance
9/10: Brimfield
11/12: Little French Irons

2000
1/2: Displaying Your Collection
3/4: Patent Models
5/6: Korean Stone Iron
7/8: Black Memorabilia for Iron Collectors
9/10: Letterhead Art
11/12: Coleman Irons

2001
1/2: Too Hot To Handle
3/4: Primitive Irons
5/6: Irons of the Old West
7/8: Shepard Fluters
9/10: Polishers
11/12: Streamlined Irons

2002
1/2: Shapers
3/4: It’s a Small, Small World

PS: PITCA members (Pressing Iron & Trivet Collectors of America) have access to all 40 issues of Iron Talk through the organization’s Lending Library. This is another reason to Join PITCA!

Update 9/16/20

Jimmy and Carol Walker were central figures in the international world of iron collecting. Iron Talk was much like a second career, one that came after years of being dealers in antique pressing irons.

When they sold their collection at auction in 2004, it took three days to auction the 2400 lots and attendance hit an all time high of one hundred fifty people. Many collectors came from Europe to have a chance to own an iron with Walker provenance.

Carol Walker passed away in 2005 and Jimmy followed in 2017. They are greatly missed.