Antique Cast Iron Western Style Boots Match Safe art school exercise Sitting on top of them

Sitting on top of them are a couple of barrel shaped boxes

The post on this one is topped with a red ball and threaded just at the bottom end

6 3/4" x 4 1/4" x 1/2"

just a couple of small brown stains that show against the white gaze on the back side

just a bit of dust/tiny bits of wood under the glass in one corner

Antique Cast Iron Western Style Boots Match Safe art school exercise Sitting on top of themI've found a few twins of these old cast iron boots, dating them to sometime between the 1850s and the late 1800s, when apparently they were commonly seen in saloons and cigar shops, where they functioned as match holders. I do rather love the vision of a series of them lined up along the bar in a lively saloon somewhere out west, serving up matches to cowboys! Especially fun with this pair is that the bolts that secure the boots to their iron base