Press and Release: Hartzell’s Auction Gallery’s Annual PITCA Pressing Iron Auction

Hartzell’s Auction Gallery, Inc. of Bangor, PA will present its Annual PITCA Pressing Iron Auction on July 11, 2024. PITCA, which is the abbreviation for Pressing Iron and Trivet Collectors of America, was founded in 1984 and produces a quarterly collector’s publication titled The Pressing News Journal. Hartzell’s upcoming pressing iron auction features 500+ lots of antique pressing irons and related laundry accessories from all across the United States and Europe. Here are some extraordinary examples that caught the eye of the Auction Daily team.

Barnes Patent Swan on Swan Iron

The top lot in this tidy sale is #200, a Barnes Patent Swan on Swan box iron. It is estimated at USD 4,000 to $8,000 and is in the form of a fully dimensional mother bird with a baby bird on her back. This lidded iron is detailed with a large wooden handle and measures 7.5 inches long. It is marked “Patent Dec 11, 1877.”

Given its rarity, appeal, and design, this exact iron tops the wish lists of many collectors of early American patented irons. Barnes made this design for only a handful of years and in different sizes, with the 7.5-inch long version being the rarest. Perhaps the most charming feature of this bit of Americana is its lovingly rendered cygnet, which also doubles as the rear latch to open the iron. Over the last decade, Swan on Swan box irons have sold in the four and five-figure range at auction; in 2020, an example with its original patent papers and pen stripes traded hands through Hartzell’s for almost $18,000.

Early 19th-Century European Mangle Board

Mangle boards are well-represented in this sale, with 28 examples on offer. Lot #323, an early 19th-century wooden carved European mangle board, is estimated at $500 to $1,000. This piece is dated 1814 and measures 23 inches long. It retains traces of its original green, red, and cream-colored paint. It features a prominent rectangular handle and is decorated with a large heart, flowers, a home with a fence, and swans rustically carved on its surface.

Mangle boards predate hand-held irons. They were used to squeeze out water and to flatten folds and wrinkles out of cloth items. The garment being dried and pressed would be wrapped around a rolling pin and then pressed into the mangle board. Mangle boards are also often considered folk art, given their handmade nature and design elements. Centuries ago, in Scandinavia, if a young man was interested in dating a young woman, he would carve her a mangle board and leave it by her doorstep. If she were interested in the man, she would take the board into her home as a sign that courtship could begin.

Salesman’s Sample American Wringer

Wringers are another key category in this signature summer sales event. Lot #309, a salesman’s sample American wringer, is estimated at $100 to $300. This wooden, folding example measures 15 inches high and has metal gears, joints, and hardware. It is marked “No. 3 / New Eclipse / American Wringer / New York” on its side.

The American Wringer Company was established in 1891. It was formed from the consolidation of several East Coast manufacturing firms, including the Empire Wringer Company, the Metropolitan Mfg. Company, the F. F. Adams Company, and the Bailey Wringing Machine Company. American Wringer had manufacturing facilities in Woonsocket, RI and Auburn, NY. It focused production on items that households needed to wash everyday laundry. These included clothes wringers, rubber rolls, and even mangle boards. The company did well through the first two decades of the 20th century, but the introduction of electric home washing machines in the 1920s would eventually prove to be its death knell in the early 1950s. 

Double Monkey Tail Goffering Iron

This pressing iron auction also features goffering irons, with nearly 40 examples on offer. Lot #360, a fine hand-wrought double monkey tail goffering iron, is estimated at $1,000 to $2,000. It stands 7.5 inches tall, is in the form of a double spiral, and is mounted on a tripod base with distinctly human-like shoe feet.

Goffering irons were designed for ironing clothing with frills. They were also called Italian or tally irons. Goffering irons made it possible to press attire with flounces and ruffles without flattening their decorative aspects. Their horizontal, tube-like irons were heated and then clothing– including shirts, collars, and bonnets– would be curled around the iron’s cylinder for the right amount of pressing. In the Victorian era, expertly ironed ruffles were a source of great pride and a sign of social class and influence.

Early Fluting Iron

Strong selections of fluting, miniature, ox tongue, and other iron types round out this well-tailored pressing iron auction. Lot #171, an early fluting iron, is estimated at $800 to $1,200. It measures 4.25 inches long and has an iron body, slugged brass pressing plates, and an oversized wooden handle. It is marked with two patent dates: August 22, 1866 and October 18, 1870. This type of device was designed to press clothing with pleats during the late 19th to early 20th centuries.

For more information on Hartzell’s Auction Gallery’s July 11, 2024 Annual PITCA Pressing Iron Auction, visit LiveAuctioneers. For more on pressing irons and their history, check out Auction Daily’s interview with John R. Hartzell of Hartzell’s Auction Gallery from 2021. 

Looking for more art and auction world news? Visit Auction Daily’s news channel for the latest.