Vintage Cast Iron Two Geese Doorstop in Cream and Teal

Two white geese have stopped at the water's edge, one preening the feathers on its back while the other dips its head down into the reeds. This vintage cast iron doorstop catches them mid fuss, and it is hard not to smile at it.

Cast iron doorstops have been propping open British doors since Victorian times, when foundries began turning out animals, ships and flowers as a far prettier answer to a brick wrapped in fabric. Farmyard birds were always a favourite, and painted pairs like this one suit a country kitchen as easily as a town hallway.

The casting is lovely. Every feather is picked out in the iron, from the scalloped breast to the long wing feathers, and the creamy white paint has been washed with a warm buff so the texture really shows. The beaks and webbed feet are a soft terracotta and the base is a deep teal green, which keeps the whole piece fresh and colourful rather than heavy. The back is hollow cast and painted cream.

It stands 20cm high, 17cm wide and 6cm deep and weighs 1.36kg, so it has the heft to hold a door against a draught while staying slim enough to tuck neatly against the frame.

The paint shows its age in the nicest way, with small chips on the heads and along the edge of the base where the dark iron peeps through. It has clearly spent years holding a door open somewhere and still looks charming for it.

We would put it on a kitchen floor against the pantry door, by a back door with the wellies and a log basket, or on a bookshelf as a bookend beside a stack of nature books. It would make a lovely present for anyone who keeps ducks or geese, a keen gardener, or someone moving into a cottage whose doors refuse to stay open.