Box Iron Slugs.

I've dug four of these objects so far which I have shown in the picture. The first one I ever dug was found on a club dig and a fellow detectorist told me it was from an old iron for pressing clothes. Oh I thought, an artifact and so kept it. Since the other three have turned up in different sizes I started to wonder what these irons looked like so here is a bit of research I have done on them.

By the 19th century a type of iron had been developed called the box iron. The iron was made of iron and normally had a wooden handle. The box iron was hollow on the inside. The box iron was heated by a piece of hot iron known as a slug. The slug was heated up on the kitchen range and then placed inside the hollow box iron.

It was custom to keep two or more of these slugs heating on the range so as the iron in the box iron cooled down it could be quickly replaced by another hot one.

The box irons shown here have a sliding door at the back. The hot slug was put into the iron through this door. Some box irons have a top that can be lifted off instead.