No. 6. This is a very unusual pattern, with a large smooth oval above and a small diamond-shaped space upon the striker, perhaps for name and number, as in the example just preceding.
No. 7. A plain oval surmounted by a ring following its outline, with a simple ornament at top and bottom suggesting a shell, is the design of the knocker on the door of the Parker residence at 8 Chestnut Street. Here use has been made of the blank surface for the engraving of the owner’s name. This is another variety of the hammer type.
A favorite pattern in English knockers, commonly used in this country prior to the Revolution, was that of a lion, in whose jaws was grasped the ring which formed the striker. But with the revolt against royal tyranny, the lion was soon retired from his conspicuous position, and his place taken by the more acceptable form of the eagle, treated with greater or less conventionality.
No. 8. On the door of Mrs. George Wheatland at 274 Essex Street is found one of these eagle knockers. The lower part of the bird, below the blank plate for owner’s name, has little suggestion of ornithology, in strong contrast with the upper half, where the plumage is strongly and effectively modeled. The striker itself carries a possible suggestion of the dolphin.
No. 9. Another eagle knocker, much less pleasing in treatment, and bringing to mind the figures of the national emblem found upon American coins, embellishes the entrance of ‘Oak Knoll,’ Peabody, once a part of the old town of Danvers, as Danvers in its turn was once a part of Old Salem. The shield upon the eagle’s breast is left blank for use as a nameplate.
OLD SALEM KNOCKERS
(See pages 93-96)
No. 10. The use of classic heads drawn from Greek and Roman mythology was very common in the Italian knockers of the Renaissance period, and these were frequently imitated by the Colonial craftsmen in New England.
A curiously shaped knocker bearing the head of Diana, the crescent upon her brow, the striker consisting of a greatly elongated drapery with knots where it is fastened at either temple of the figure, as also at the lower extremity, is found upon the door of Mr. Philip Little, on Chestnut Street.
No. 11. Another head of classic beauty representing Ariadne, crowned with oak-leaves, which are bound with a fillet about her brow, is at the home of Mrs. Walter Harris on Essex Street. Acorns are shown at either temple, from which depend conventionalized oak-leaves somewhat after the manner of drapery, meeting at the lower end to support a small oval plate which is left blank probably for the house number, the fillet being somewhat incongruously engraved with the owner’s name.