Cast iron stoves can crack. Any wood stove will overheat if you have too much fuel and draw. Grates and bodies burn through and become thin. Gaskets wear out, hinges crack off. There's a whole host of problems with a device like that, starting with the fact it's somewhat more but not really a whole lot more efficient than a campfire. That's called a Parlor Stove, and wouldn't have been heating your whole house. You'd have fireplaces in every room, possibly a wood cookstove in the kitchen and maybe a main furnace. The Parlor Stove, as it's name suggests, was a decorative piece set in the parlor. That's a large one. Most probably wouldn't be purchasing something that fancy, opting for a large cookstove instead if they were going to heat with wood - or simply using fireplaces in a really old home. A comparable piece from a local dealer, M.S. Frazier of Frazeysburg, OH was $24.95 in 1914, about $762 today. And remember, you'd need something else as well, so you have multiple devices being fueled constantly with wood - or coal if you had a coal grate. https://pic8.co/sh/bK9rEy.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/lHYkNV.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/RUQUWC.jpg

That stove is a bit too decorative for my taste.