S/2799 Antique Victorian Cast Brass Fox Mask Door Stop Manufactured by William Tonks & Son, Birmingham

A good quality late Victorian cast brass fox mask door stop, having a cast iron semi circular weighted base, which has a raised decoration of a horse shoe, two whips and hunting horns. The handle has a protruding fox mask within a pierced and decorative surround surmounted with a ring handle for carrying purposes. The reverse has two registration numbers of 4274 for 1886, and W.T. & Son for the firm William Tonks & Son of Birmingham, established at 201, Moseley Street, Birmingham making cast and wrought brass products.

Manufacturer of architectural hardware, art metalware, campaign metalware, ecclesiastical metalwork and an early fabricator of decorative patterned tubes. The Tonks family surname is on the lists of Birmingham brassfounders before the 1800s. William Tonks founded this firm in 1789 (or 1794?). They won gold medals at the 1851 and 1862 Exhibitions in London and in 1855 at Paris. The larger factory in Moseley Street was opened in the early 1860s and most items now found will date from after this time.

By 1869 they had developed the eight-pointed 'sun' trade mark showing two eyes and a mouth. Later the 'WT&S' initials were sometimes inserted instead for the marks on some items but other items had a smaller, empty sun on items designed in the 1900s.

Sold 6 in. (15 cm.) Wide
3 in. (7.5 cm.) Deep
16½ in. (42 cm.) High
English Circa 1886