Similarities in the US, Swastika and Royal stands

It’s not unusual to notice design similarities among American made sad iron stands. Some collectors (myself included) wonder if the nickel plated US and Swastika sad iron stands, and possibly the nickel plated Royal, may have been produced by the same foundry.

Their size, design, and quality of casting were eerily similar. The stands I’ve encountered have been in average to poor condition. For whatever reason their nickel platings did not survive the passage of time, resulting in surfaces with excessive wear, or pitting to the cast iron due to rust.

The following excerpts are from my first book The A-Z Guide To Collecting Trivets (2004), pages 96, 102 & 103. Click to enlarge.

In my text for the Royal stand I mentioned that it might be the companion to the Royal Gas Iron. Since then I’ve had the opportunity to handle one of these fuel irons and it’s much too large to fit this stand. Made around 1900 by the Royal Self-Heating Iron Company of Big Prairie, Ohio, it measures around 10″ long while the sad iron stand is only 5 3/4″ long.

Do you have an old catalog, brochure or advertisement showing any of these stands? If so, please Contact Me and I’ll add your information as an Update to this blog post. Thanks in advance!

PS: See The Buffum swastika stand for a further discussion of the swastika design. That blog post includes a rare, handled version in brass, as shown in the Gallery.

Gallery

Since the images of the three stands in my first book have a slight golden hue, I’ve provided the original photos. I’ve also added a fourth version of the swastika stand, in brass with a handle. Notice the similarity of the decorative engraving along the tops and bottoms. All are unsigned on the reverse. Clicking any image will open a slideshow.