Jocko Cast Iron Lawn Jockey

PAINTED CAST IRON LAWN JOCKEY / HITCHING POST FIGURE WITH IRON RING, ON A STEPPED PLINTH BASE - APPROXIMATELY 11.5 INCHES TALL - OLD WORN PAINT, HOLLOW TWO-PIECE CASTING A painted cast iron figure of a jockey standing on a stepped square plinth base, one arm held out with a loose iron ring hanging from the hand and the other arm behind the back - the classic lawn jockey or hitching post form, here in a small tabletop or doorstep size rather than a full-size yard figure. It is finished in old paint: a red cap with a yellow stripe and a black brim, black face and hands, a white shirt and jodhpurs, a red vest with three yellow buttons and a yellow neck tie or stock, black boots, and a black plinth. The piece stands approximately 11.5 inches tall on a base approximately 3.5 to 4 inches square. The casting is hollow and made in two halves joined by an internal threaded stud and nut, with a slotted screw head visible in the side of the plinth and a mold seam running the full height of the figure and base - construction that points to a decorative reproduction or later small-format casting rather than a solid nineteenth-century hitching post, and it is offered on that understanding. Condition is worn and honest: extensive paint chipping and loss down to dark red primer and bare iron over the legs, arms, back, and cap, chipping and loss along the plinth revealing red under-paint, surface rust and pitting throughout the hollow interior, and general dirt and wear. No maker's name, foundry mark, patent number, date, or country of origin is visible anywhere on the piece. Sold as one figure. Description Form - cast iron, hollow, painted, modeled as a standing jockey figure with the right arm extended forward and slightly bent, a molded hand gripping a separate loose iron ring, and the left arm bent behind the back. The figure stands on a stepped, molded square plinth with a flared cap and a flared foot, recessed panel detail on each side, and a hollow open bottom. Ring - a loose, hand-formed round iron ring hangs through the extended hand. It is rusty, dark, and not perfectly circular, and it moves freely. Bidders should assume the ring is a replacement or a later addition unless they satisfy themselves otherwise; no claim is made that it is original to the casting. Paint - red cap with a yellow band and black brim, black-painted face and hands, white shirt with sleeves and white jodhpurs, red vest with three yellow buttons, a yellow tie or stock at the throat, black boots, and a black plinth. The paint appears to be an old finish over an earlier red or red-oxide coat, which shows through everywhere the top coat has chipped away. No opinion is offered on whether the visible paint is original or an old repaint. Construction - two-piece hollow casting with a vertical mold seam running up the front and back of the figure and continuing down through the plinth. The two halves are drawn together by an internal threaded stud and nut inside the plinth, photographed through the open bottom, and a slotted screw head is visible from the outside on one side of the plinth. The interior is bare, rusted, and pitted. Size - approximately 11.5 inches tall overall, with a plinth approximately 3.5 to 4 inches square at the flared foot, per the tape-measure photographs. In the height frame the tape stands on the shelf beside the figure and is not hooked to it, and in the base frames the tape lies across the open bottom of the plinth rather than being hooked to an edge, so every figure given here is a close estimate only. Bidders should verify all dimensions from the photographs. No weight is given; the piece was not weighed. Marks - no foundry name, maker's mark, patent number, model number, date, copyright, or country of origin is visible on the figure, the plinth, or the interior of the casting, so none is claimed. Photographed on a dark oak shelf and table against a white wall. Nothing else appears in these frames; the single figure and its ring are the entire lot. The Milwaukee tape measure is a photographic reference only and is NOT included. Attribution note Figures of this form are known in the antiques trade as lawn jockeys or jockey hitching post figures. The full-size versions were cast from the middle of the nineteenth century onward, first in zinc and later in iron, and stood three to four feet tall at the edge of a drive or walk, with a ring in the outstretched hand so a visitor could tie a horse; the Smithsonian Gardens collection dates its cast iron lawn jockey hitching post broadly to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the U.S. Patent Office issued a design patent to Robert Wood of Philadelphia in 1872 for a hitching post in the form of a jockey, as noted in published accounts of the form. Reference sources including Wikipedia and the Paulick Report describe the earliest jockey hitching posts as dating to the 1850s or early 1860s, with the design later reproduced in hollow iron, aluminum, concrete