Cast Iron Cookware News: Vol. I No. 3

In this issue:
Letters to the editor..................p.16
Rare Griswold waffle iron..........p.17
Griswold waffle iron tag............p.18
Pamphlet-How To Sell Griswold
Kitchen Utensils...................p.18-19
Buy-Sell-Trade.........................p.20

Vol. 1 No. 3

Number 3

June 1988

From the Editor... The subject of reproductions and fakes has not come up very often in years past. More and more often these new pieces are turning up at shows and flea markets, often with a price tag that would indicate an old piece. Most of the reproductions have a grainy look and have often been artificially aged, mostly by rusting and oiling. Keep your eyes open for the following pieces so that you can educate and protect yourself frcm buying a worthless "antique". If buying through the mail be sure to get a money back guarantee from the seller if you are not pleased for any reason,
Wagner toy waffle Grainy casting. Handles usually stubby wooden while original had slender wood with metal ferrules on them. Griswold No262 Cornorwheat Stick Pan Repro is grainy, kernels have poor definition. The fake "Snick" pan is pretty obvious for what it is. Griswold toy ham boiler about 6" long A fake as there never was an original. Griswold No0 or No1 toy skillets Neither is ground inside; some originals unground but have fine casting. Griswold match holder Probably no originals. Be careful. E.C.Simmons (Keen Kutter) toy waffle Grainy casting, stubby wood handles. Probably never was an original. E.C.Simmons size 8 waffle A fairly good repro. Has coil wire handles like original. Be very careful, Griswold mortar & pestle Original mortar is one piece while the reproduction, I am told, is cast in two pieces.
	Above Griswold spyder tradmark used on some No8 ERIE skillets and also used on some ERIE teakettles. It is possible that other pieces were made with the spyder but none have turned up. Date of use is not known, but possibly around 1890. One story has it that these were issued c.1905 as commemorative pieces, but there is no information to substantiate this. Left This substantial pan, maker unknown, measures 7½"x12-3/8" over- all with a 1" inside depth, Makes sticks 1-⅛" by 10¼" long. The handles are marked FRENCH STICKS. HEAT PAN BEFORE USING on one end and USE THIN FLAT STRIPS OF DOUGH on the other end.

CAST IRON COOKWARE NEWS is published bi-monthly by Steve Stephens. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Subscriptions are $15 and begin with the January issue and end Dec. 31st. Regardless of when you subscribe you will receive any back issues for the year. Send subscriptions and all material to: Steve Stephens, 28 Angela Ave., San Anselmo, CA 94960 415-453-7790

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

James Griswold, Carrollton, MO, sent me some rubbings which I will not reproduce here. One was of a No8 skillet w/slant TM/Erie and heat ring. He writes "The TM is a different size than anything else I have, or have ever seen. I would like to know history and if it has more value." James, I have seen several of these skillets recently. The slant TM is 2½" diameter rather than the usual 3-3/16". Otherwise the pan appears the same as a normal slant/Erie pan and, although uncommon, I would guess that it would not have any greater, or much greater, value than the standard pan. Most collectors seem to be interested in a matching set of skillets and so would probably not pay a premium for your pan unless they wanted an oddity, I can give you no reason for the smaller TM on your pan but know that Griswold made many variations in their wares, often with no apparent reason, His other question was about a picture he sent me of a piece which appears identical to the Cylinder Ring (top part only) shown in a Wagner, catalog, c.1920 (reproduced below). His piece is marked around the outer edge in 7/16" high, block type letters: GRISWOLD MFG. CO, ERIE, PA. 6" BUTTLES PATENT. There would likely be a second ring to go with this one he has. I believe these rings were used around stovepipe where it went through a wall.

Dear Mr. Stephens, We have a muffin pan with round, shallow cups. Patent April 5, 1859. What would you cook in this? Out here it seems many of the dealers are using the Harned book for pricing, but we have done several outdoor shows and have found we can't even give away the cast iron at very reasonable prices. No one seems to want it, not exotic enough I guess. Polly Stark, Southampton, NY
Dear Polly,
The muffin or gem pan you have is probably one of the many shapes or styles made by either N. Waterman, Boston, Mass. or R&E Mfg. Co, (location unknown). They are used to bake gems in. A gem is a muffin made of coarse flour and sometimes unleavened. The demand for iron cookware will very from place to place in the country and also among different markets. Not only is Harned being used by many as a price guide, but often pieces are priced much higher than the book lists. On the other side, you can still find iron, including rare pieces, at very reasonable prices. The common pieces may go begging while the rare and/or desirable pieces, especially Griswold, sell easily and often at high asking prices.
*****
Dear Steve,
...Also have seen a 20 year pin, 14K, Griswold Mfg. Co,, Erie, PA,
Sally Swanson, Erie, PA
*****
Chuck Horn, Sacramenhto, CA was at a local flea market looking in a booth that had mostly clothing and junk with nothing that looked like iron when he spotted a mint Griswold red and cream porcelain skillet ashtray. When he asked the price he was told "ten". Reaching for his wallet and $10 he asked, to confirm the price, "how much did you say it was" to which the reply was "it's ten cents". Chuck put his wallet away and handed her a dime.

LETTERS cont'd from p. 16

Dear Steve,
We received Vol.1 No.2 of CIC News in the mail today. Sat down and read throuqh. You are to be congratulated, it keeps getting better. Both Kathy and I know you will keep the quality up. Have a few thoughts. First on TRADEMARK TERMINOLOGY, Page 12, It is a real good idea. I have been transferring our shop inventory and our own collection over to the computer. I use the following code for skillets shown on page 13 of CICN:
(1) (S/SR/E) (2) (S/SR/EPU)
(3) (B/SR/EPU) (4) (B EPU)
(5) (Sm/EP) (6) (SM/EP)

(1) S=Slant 'TM
SR=Smoke Ring (you use Heat Ring)
E=Erie
Others:
EPU=Erie, PA.,U.S.A.
B=Block
Sm=Small small?
SM=Small large?
Printout for (1) looks like this:
# DESCRIPTION PAT #
1 3 skillet (S SR/E) 709B
This works very well for us, particularly with the shop inventory. Since we don't carry all of our inventory with us when we do street and Antique shows, we will have a ready reference if someone is looking for a particular skillet. Also, it should help us make sales we have lost in the past.
We have seen a similar logo to the diamond logo, shown on page 7 on Griswold aluminum pieces. Since we buy very few pieces of aluminum, don't have an example to show you. I'm sure you have seen it also. Will try to get a rubbing on the next one we see, if you have not seen it.
Mike Wassell and Kathy Herritt, Shippensburg, PA

Dear Mike and Kathy,
Thank you for your ideas. I have often thought how great a computer would be to aid me with my collection and to put out CICN. But, for the last four years I have kept track of my collecting in a Mead 5 subject indexed notebook, 9½;"x6" with spiral binding.
This has worked very well for me although it can be quite difficult to find a piece in it that I bought several years ago. Also you must treat it carefully or the pages could start coming out. My system looks scmething like this:
| 8-18-15 | 5 | G No5 skillet, lg.TM, 724 | 5.00 VG | |
| 8-18-16 | 110 | G No110 Skillet Griddle, slant/EPU |16.00 G | T |
8-18-15 is 1988, page 18, item (or line) 15. Second column is for the size which is good for scanning the pages to try to find a piece. Then a column for the description followed by price paid and condition. The last column is for the disposition: Collection IC); Trade (T); or left blank until I sell the piece where I can enter price, date sold, etc.
What ever method you use, it is best to keep some kind of record of your collection for it is likely to become too big someday to have it all filed in your head.
I am not familiar with the diamond tvpe logo on aluminum pieces.

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS

page 3 Add the following skillets to Skillet Chart: slant TM/Erie, size 13; sm.TM w/late handle, sizes 6,8,9. These sizes have been seen which verifies them as having been made. Remove Erie No5 as my earlier verification may be faulty.
page 6 The ERIE odorless skillet pictured is a #9, not #8 as stated. Of additional interest is that PAT APPL'D FOR appears faintly on top of the handle of this pan.
page 8 As can often happen when copying a recipe an ingredient can be omitted. I hope no one tried to bake Chuck Glendinning's cake mold recipe without the flour which was left out. A quick letter to Chuck and he wrote back that there should be 2 cups flour. Now you can try the recipe.

RARE GRISWOLD WAFFLE IRON As many different waffle irons that Griswold made, it should be of no surprise that another one has turned up. But what an iron!! Found recently by Mike Wassell and Kathy Herritt in Pennslyvania, the iron is pictured below. Unfortunately the picture is not too good but I thought it worthwhile to show such an unusual piece.

The frame measures 9¼"x22" and is marked only with the pattern #917. The irons measure 7-5/8"x17½". They are marked (top) GRISWOLD MFG. CO. ERIE, PA with pattern 924, and (bottom) No8 923.

Thank you Mike and Kathy for sending me this information. Any readers who encounter or own an unusual piece of Griswold or other cast iron cookware are encouraged to share it in CICN.

*****

Picture of brass tag on front of Griswold No.130-Griddle gas stove and cake griddle. This stove is pictured in Griswold Catalog No.55 (c.1930) on page 13 of the waffle iron section. No.13 waffle iron also fits this stove.

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