HISTORY & HINTS

Brief History of French Antique Stoves

Stoves are available in many different styles, they are identified on the basis of makes and models. Foundries worked to differentiate their individuality through outstanding craftsmanship and artistry, with features, designs and ornamentations unique to that stove producer. Determining an exact date of manufacture is difficult if it is not explicitly included on the stove. Patent dates reflect the first patent and production of the stove, but production of a model followed for years after its original development. To narrow down the age of the stove we examine the quality of the casting, the style and designs of the castings, and the style of the stove. As the process of sand casting became more developed and refined the clarity of the casting became clean and crisp, absent of pitting and imperfections.

There were many makers of cast iron stoves throughout Europe the most important being the renowned French maker Jean-Baptist Andre Godin 1817-1888 for his mechanisation of the casting process. Although in spit of fierce competitors and copying of his produces Godin continually improved his produces both aesthetically and technically, this helped Godin to become the leading manufacture of stoves and fire places. There has been few changes to the designs of stoves in the last hundred and fifty years. The craftsmen of yesteryear designed a stove that was incredibly efficient in heat production and fuel consumption using systems of baffles, drafts and recycling cambers.

Antique stoves were the centre of the French home assuming all responsibility for heating water, cooking, baking, cleaning and warming the home morning to night, continually in use with an effective design that was both easy to use and had a regulated heat output. Although the use of the wood stove has waned, the antique stove is more advanced than many of its modern day counterparts. Comparing the artistic castings and uniquely soothing band of heat produced by the wood stove reveals that the antique stove outshines today’s reproductions in both function and design. Antique stoves are finding a renewed popularity in homes across the world. To own a French antique stove is to become part of this history.