Stove lids, or as they are sometimes called eyes, are the flat plates that cover the holes in the Antique Cookstove or Range top, where pots and pans were set in. The Stove Lid Lifter is usually an iron device, often nickle plated, with a flattened hook at one end for lifting out the iron stove plates from the stove or range top. Provisions were made for cooling the Handle, often spirally twisted heavy wire to dissipate the heat from the hand. Some were made of cast or wrought iron, with cast holes or designs in the handle to also help dissipate the heat. Often the other end of the handle would enable the user to perform another task, such as a shaker end (usually a square or triangular receptacle end) to operate the stoves ash grates. Worth mentioning is the Loop Style handle, that utilized the spiral wire, was often thought of rather poorly, as the hand could be burned quite well when it was forgotten on the stove, whereas the straight spring would only burn you where you grasped it in you hand. Imagine picking up the forgotten on the hot stove Loop Style lifter and trying to pry it off your inserted fingers and palm. Ouch! Ask your Grandmother, We’ll bet she can relate some stories on this topic.

Alaska, Arctic, Ideal, and Zero are but some of the lid lifter brand that were manufactured. Often the stove manufacturer would have their own name embossed in the casting, these are often harder to find and command higher prices. Glenwood, White Warner Quaker, Round Oak, Magee,Crescent, Atlantic, Loths, just to name a few. Our Round Oak Chief Cook/Range Stove that we use daily in our Walk In Store has the Original lid lifter, marked Round Oak, which is very unusual, as these lifters did indeed wear out, especially the end that does the lifting, as they would round/wear on the square edges.When that happened these were usually replaced from other sources such as Montgomery Ward etc. Even rarer indeed are the lifters marked such as Ladies Favorite, Burn Not, Kind To The Hand.

Lid lifters have indeed become quite collectable, as the Stove Collector often will find them very attractive to collect as they take up very little space, and are still somewhat available at Flea Markets, eBay, and Antique Stores. They alway make a nice wall display next to your valued Stove, and are functional as well. Common examples should fetch around $10., and the Rarer Hand Made or One of a Kind lifters can sometimes command prices as high as a hundred dollars, depending of course on the Condition and Rarity. We hope this Guide has helped you, and enjoy eBay!