Warming Up to Collecting: Antique Foot Warmers

Octagonal Wrought iron foot warmer, pierced compass star and TC

You don’t have to wander around in an old house for very long before you’re aware of the chilly eddies of air around your ankles! Foot warmers make perfect sense, and I’m willing to bet that they’ve been around in some form as long as people have had cold feet.

Foot warmers mostly come in two forms – stoneware containers meant to be filled with hot water, forerunners to the modern hot water bottle, and portable metal and/or wood boxes meant to be filled with hot coals.  Stoneware foot warmers tend to be valuable based on the uniqueness of their form and condition, with examples like this Rockingham oval foot warmer by J.L. Rue bringing hundreds of dollars.  The completely metal box forms also seem to be popular with collectors, like this beautiful brass Dutch example or the wrought iron example pictured above.  My favorites though are the little stoneware ones in suitcase form – perhaps so you can think about packing your bags and moving somewhere warmer!

-Hollie Davis, Senior Editor, p4A.com