Vintage Cast Iron Ram Doorstop in Cream on a Black and Gold Base

Look closely at those curled grey horns and you will see this is no ordinary sheep but a ram, and a very handsome one. He stands square on a patch of bright green grass with his fleece thick and curly, gazing out with the calm air of an animal who has never once had to hold a door open himself and is now rather enjoying the novelty.

He is solid cast iron and painted by hand, his fleece cast in deep curls and painted soft cream, with grey horns, a dark eye and grass in green flicked with yellow. The base is black, banded in gold with gold scrollwork along the front. Behind, the casting is hollow and left as bare dark iron, with a flat tab that slides under the door to keep it in place. He measures 8cm by 8cm by 7cm, small but properly solid.

Sheep shaped the British countryside for centuries. The medieval wool trade paid for many of the great churches and market towns of the Cotswolds and East Anglia, and the humble sheep has been a favourite subject for country ornaments ever since.

He is in very good condition, with bright, clean paint throughout. There are a few tiny marks along the edges of the base and light wear to the bare iron tab underneath.

Stand him by a farmhouse door, on a shelf beside a basket of wool in a knitter's corner, or give him to anyone who loves sheep, spins, knits or simply lives somewhere with more sheep than people. He also makes good company for our pigs if you are building a small farmyard of doorstops.