Vintage Cast Iron Old Spot Pig Doorstop in Buttermilk and Green

With his black spots and pink snout held high, this pig bears more than a passing resemblance to a Gloucestershire Old Spot, out for a stroll through the long grass. He walks with real purpose on his little red trotters, curly tail up, as though he knows exactly where the windfall apples have landed.

He is solid cast iron and painted by hand in soft buttermilk, with black spots ringed in grey, pink at the snout and ears, and long grass in deep green streaked with yellow. The base is painted black. Behind, the casting is hollow, with a long flat tab that slides under the door to keep it held. He measures 9cm by 9cm by 9cm, a neat little block of a doorstop that is heavier than he looks.

Old Spots were traditionally the orchard pigs of the Severn Vale, turned out among the fruit trees to clear up the fallen apples, and local folklore has it that their spots are bruises from apples dropping on their backs. The breed came close to disappearing in the last century and is now a favourite with smallholders again, so this one is in good company.

He is in excellent condition, with bright, fresh colours throughout. There are a couple of tiny chips to the tip of an ear and the tail, and a few small specks of rust on the white painted tab underneath.

Stand him by the back door, on a dresser among stoneware jugs, or give him to anyone with an orchard, a smallholding or a Gloucestershire address. He would be very happy alongside our other pigs, and he is the most cheerful of the lot.