Recognising and understanding the object
- Materials
- cast iron or brass, wooden handle
- Parts
- sole, hollow body, lid, air openings, handle
- Purpose
- Smooth cloth with a heated metal sole.
- Period
- Context of nineteenth- and twentieth-century household collections and historical accounts; individual objects differ in date.
- Place and distribution
- Early twentieth-century examples in the National Museum of Lithuania.
What it is and how it works
A charcoal iron held hot coals inside a metal body, heating the sole that touched the fabric. An opening lid and ventilation holes help distinguish it from a solid iron heated externally.
Evidence and examples
The National Museum of Lithuania records examples made in Kaunas and Klaipėda workshops as well as by village smiths. Its collection also includes irons heated by an inserted piece of hot metal, called a dūšia. That is a different heating system: a hollow antique iron is not automatically a charcoal iron.
How to identify it
For identification, photograph the closed body, hinges, openings and maker’s marks. Move a lid only with the custodian’s permission. A museum object may be fragile or incomplete; a description and diagram are sufficient for understanding it without lighting it. A maker’s mark offers firmer evidence than an impression that the outline looks old.
