Rare Ornate Bronze Store Door Latch Circa 1880

What a gorgeous piece of artistic hardware this is and very hard to find!  Made by Sargent & Company it is shown in their 1880 hardware catalog but may have been manufactured earlier.  It features a plain anti-friction strike plate that was found with it.  The plate and strike are made of heavy bronze and may have been made with gold plating but it’s hard to tell for sure.  The ornate design is outstanding!  

Originally made for use on the doors to stores and businesses in the mid to late 1800’s, these latches also lend themselves well to a residential front door with a modern deadbolt for security.  I’ve included a couple of pages from the Sargent catalog for you to see a couple of the designs for handles that go with it but it will work with any thumb latch type hardware.

There is an area on the face plate where the design is slightly pushed in.  Since the latch is reversible for both the position of the strike and also for the lever action that area could be on the lower part of the latch to not be as noticeable.  There is a slight bend to the strike plate between the roller and the rectangular hole.  It works just fine as it is but could be straightened pretty easily since bronze is a soft metal.

Latch face, strike and strike plate are bronze.  Latch casing is cast iron and bears the maker name and patent date of May 3, 1870.

Faceplate: 1-1/8” wide x 4-1/2”  
Casing 3” wide x 2-7/8” high
Edge of door to edge of lever inset 1-3/8”
Lever inset space 1”