In light of such interest, reproductions and fantasy items are a huge problem. Original cast-iron Mammy figures were made as doorstops. Others were made as banks. But they were never made as both.

Besides several dolls, plus a few banks and the cookie jar, items to be auctioned today include a cast-iron “Mammy” doorstop, with a pre-auction estimate of $300 to $500; a collection of busts ...

She was called Mammy or Aunt Jemima — a stereotype of ... run by a white woman — when she picked up the rusted, dirty, cast-iron doorstop. Dora Robinson holds the cast-iron figure of Aunt ...