What is marketed as wrought iron today is often solid steel (though solid aluminum can also be found), dressed up with -machine-made scrolls and cast details, such as rosettes. When restoration projects call for true wrought iron, a craftsman has to rely on salvaged material that can be melted down to be reworked by hand, making genuine wrought-iron fencing prohibitively expensive. Even wrought iron’s classic glossy-black paint is upgraded with a longer-lasting, multistep powder-coating process that greatly reduces maintenance. The lighter-weight panels come together with fasteners, making installation easier. These days, metal fences aim to suggest traditional iron using more-available steel or weatherproof aluminum, usually with hollow pickets made to resemble solid 5⁄8-inch square bars. Such metalwork really peaked in popularity during the Victorian era, when foundries started casting and mass-producing elaborate pickets, posts, and scroll details. By the early 1800s, however, as blacksmithing grew domestically, ornamental iron began to embellish the more varied house styles of the day. In Colonial times, only the wealthiest could afford to import wrought-meaning hand-shaped-ironwork for their fine brick and stone townhouses.
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