When we were boys, we loved to collect old wrought-iron hinges, handles, and latches that had been rescued from dilapidated barns near our home in upstate New York. We would spend hours comparing the craftsmanship and design variations, imagining the heat, hammers, and sweat that went into the pieces' creation.

Today, antique iron hardware, with its original black surface often covered by decades of paint or rust, is just starting to be more widely appreciated as a folk art form, enhanced by tiny imperfections that are the mark of an individual craftsman's hands.

OF BLACKSMITHS AND BUTTERFLIES
The earliest American settlers depended on hardware imported from Europe, with local blacksmiths simply repairing broken hinges, handles, wagon wheels, and other utilitarian ironwork. It wasn't until the turn of the 19th century, when colonists started mining iron deposits and building great furnaces to smelt the ore, that towns had foundries in which to shape original iron pieces. There, blacksmiths stoking a coal fire hammered hot chunks of metal on an anvil to make butterfly hinges for cupboards and drop-leaf tables, or brawny strap hinges to hold heavy plank doors. Before American factories started turning out pressed glass knobs in the late 1830s, smithies fashioned thumb latches and handles as a means of opening doors. Decorating the mounting cusps at opposite ends of the handle were basic shapes of beans and diamonds, or more whimsical snakes, leaves, and scalloped edges. The handle might be flat, round, or a swedge, which resembles a turned piece of wood.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Variations in the iron's thickness, file marks on the edges, and irregular shapes are some telltale signs of handwork. Pieces with obvious hammer marks were probably made after the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1800s; when perfectly formed, die-cut factory hardware came along, craftsmen began leaving these marks to show that their work was handmade. Antique iron hardware is surprisingly affordable. You can find strap hinges and simple latches for as little as $30 at salvage yards, antiques stores, and flea markets. Rarer designs-straps whose ends taper into a bird or tulip, for example-go for between $35 and $200. Unusual, historically documented pieces can command thousands. Unless old iron strap hinges are in really good condition, reproduction hinges are often a better bet for doors that get daily use. Horton Brasses, Ball and Ball, and Old Smithy Shop produce a wide range of handwrought iron hardware that looks as authentic as any from the 18th and 19th centuries. For custom pieces, the Artist-Blacksmith's Association of North America (www.abana.org) can help locate a craftsman near you. Antique and reproduction hardware can be used to great effect on a small scale to give a new cupboard or hutch a period look. Or a collection of old pieces can be hung on a wall, or laid out on a tabletop to be handled as well as admired. Leigh has special stands made for his antiques in order to mount them upright and emphasize their sculptural shapes. Whether you put old iron straps and latches to practical use or display them like abstract art, at least one part of their appeal remains the same: they connect us to the past, and to the people who went in and out of those doors so long ago.