Old Cast Iron Wall Hanging Top Hat Man Bottle Opener

I collected cast iron doorstops & still banks for a lot of years but I'd also, every once in awhile, see a bottle opener and pick it up.  Additionally, a friend of mine, who did actively collect bottle openers, was moving out of state to retire about 15 years ago and, being he didn't want to take his collection with him, offered them to me.  So, I ended up with a bunch of bottle openers that I am now going to be listing on Ebay from time to time.

The four I'm going to try to list tonight came from his collection.  So, all of them are at least 15 years old and, being I've had some experience with old metal pieces, I'll give you my "best guess" as far as the age of the item.  As always though, if you end up with the item and do not agree with me, that will not be a problem.  Also, I think the difference between an auction and garage sale is at an auction, the buyer determines what an item is worth, not the seller.  So, I always try to have low starting bids.

This top hat man is cast iron and made to hang on the wall.  It is approiximately 5" x 3 1/4"  and would stand out from the wall about 1 31/2"  It is very well made with a good paint job.  One thing I noticed when I first picked it up is the heft of the piece.  It is a lot heavier item than what you would expect for one that size; especially the reproductions made from the 1970's.  This makes me believe that this bottle opener is a very well taken care of original from probably the 40's or 50's.  I do not know when they first came out with this mold so it may have been even earlier than that.  There is no rust but there is some paint loss of the front just from being around that long.

If you have any questions, just ask.  Thank you.