Buying Tips

There are several sources from which vintage cast iron ware may be obtained. Garage and estate sales, flea markets, antique stores, and thrift stores are all good places to look for pieces. The condition of items found at each type of venue will vary considerably, the roughest and dirtiest pieces most often being seen at flea markets, where items are mostly sold "as found". Garage sales have the potential to yield the cleanest pieces for the best price, but you may spend a great deal of time and expense travelling around, only to find little to see. Occasionally, you'll find an antique store whose owner or an associate has an interest in collectible cast iron, resulting in an above average selection of items in better, cleaner shape, but typically at a much higher asking price.

For many collectors, eBay is a prime if not the only source of vintage cast iron cookware. As with anything purchased on eBay, there are pitfalls to be avoided. Not all old cast iron ware is considered collectible and therefore valuable. Here are the things you need to know about purchasing collectible cast iron, whether you buy it on eBay or not.

First, make it your business to know what you're buying. Many eBay sellers will themselves admit they have little expertise in what they are offering for sale. Many obtain vintage cast iron in the course of purchasing estates, and often tend to know only a little about a lot of different things. An unfortunate side-effect of this lack of cast iron knowledge is the propensity of some sellers to start the bidding at an outrageous figure, just in case what they've found is something of high value. You'll often also see items offered with a similarly ridiculous "Buy It Now or Best Offer" price, apparently in the hope that either someone will bite on the BIN price, or that the actual value can be gauged by the offers made.

It's not uncommon to see sellers describing every piece of cast iron they list as "vintage" or "rare", either because the names Wagner or Griswold are on them, or because they don't know better, or just because. It is important to note that the production of domestic cast iron ware in general after around 1957 varies from reasonably good to very poor in terms of finish quality regardless of whose name is on it. Therefore, the cast iron that truly qualifies as "vintage" and collectible falls in the range of at least 55 or more years old.

You can begin to educate yourself by seeking information online, from websites like this one, from collectors' groups' websites, and from published guide books on vintage cast iron such as those shown below. You can also use eBay's "completed listings" search feature to see just what pans similar to ones you are interested in have sold for recently, as well as pans that did not sell due to poor condition, inadequate descriptions, or unreasonably high starting prices.

Second, ask questions. eBay has a feature on every listing that allows an interested member ask the seller questions about the condition of their item. The seller may or may not, at his or her discretion, show the question and answer in the listing. Just because you don't see any answered questions on a listing, don't assume none have been asked, nor that none need to be asked.

It is not uncommon on eBay for sellers to "underdescribe" their items or disclaim expertise in order to avoid accusations of misrepresentation. You will occasionally see listings with little to nothing in the way of a description, containing instead only an instruction to message the seller with any questions. An actual example:

heres a old piece of wagner ware. a # 3 - 6" skillet, look over pics,ask questions and buy it if u want it !

Conversely, don't allow yourself to be misled by lengthy, effusive descriptions. You should never rely on vague, subjective statements and terms, e.g. "in great shape for its age", or "nicest I've ever seen".

To insure the best chances for satisfaction, ask for clear, definitive answers to the questions that follow, if they are not already specifically spelled out in the description, and if they are not forthcoming, walk away.

Is there any damage not discernible in the photographs? There should be multiple, clear photographs, taken in good light, and from all angles. There is no excuse for single photos, photos that show no pertinent details, or poor quality images that obscure details. Any of the following types of damage may detract from collectible value.

Is there any rust or pitting? Pitting is the erosion of metal either by rust or from constant use over a fire emitting sulfurous gases. Be aware that this type of damage can often be obscured by build-up coating the pan, and the seller may not be able to supply a definite answer.

Is the pan warped? Warping is the result of improper rapid heating or cooling. Warping can be detected by placing a metal straightedge across the cooking surface or the bottom of the pan. It can also be revealed by placing the pan on a hard, known-level surface, and pressing downward on the rim of the pan at various points. Rocking or wobbling indicate warping. Some collectors also use the term "movement" to describe the behavior of a warped pan. Be aware that some sellers will describe a pan as having a "flat bottom" when what they mean is the pan's design is "smooth-bottomed" (as opposed to having a heat-ringed bottom), and are not indicating a pan is warp-free.

Are there any cracks or chips? Hairline cracks are typically the result of improper rapid heating or cooling, are normally found in the sidewall of a pan, and look like vertical scratches extending from the top edge of the rim of the pan downward. Close inspection in good light that reveals a corresponding scratch across the top edge and down the outer wall confirms a crack. A cracked pan is often also a warped pan as well.

You may see sellers describe a pan by saying it "rings like a bell when tapped with a wooden spoon". This is supposed to be an indicator that the pan is not cracked, but the quality of the tone produced is often subjective, and not a guarantee. A build up of seasoning may muffle the ringing sound of a well-used but otherwise intact pan, and it may also obscure hairline cracks.

Have any repairs been made to the pan? Sometimes you will come across pans that have had damage in the form of cracks or broken handles that a previous owner has addressed by welding the affected parts.

It is also known that foundrymen, usually paid by the piece, sometimes repaired cosmetic casting flaws with filler material, before the final polishing.While hard as cast iron and smoothed by the milling process, the filler is often discernible upon close inspection. We must remember that, when today's collectible was made, it was considered a commodity, often shipped in bulk in barrels.

Here's a good one: Is it counterfeit? Not that a seller would necessarily freely admit to it; he or she may not even know the item they are offering is not genuine. But there are several widely-counterfeited cast iron pieces, mainly Chinese knock-offs of smaller items like toy skillets and waffle irons, and tea-size cornbread stick pans. Casting quality and finish on these items is generally sub-standard, and obviously so when compared side-by-side to a genuine article. The term "reproduction" is often applied to these fakes.

You may also see pieces that are "recasts". A recast is a piece that was produced using an actual cast iron pan as a pattern. A recast my have been produced with the intent to deceive, or it may just be the result of a metalworking project in a high school shop class. Recasts typically have obvious casting flaws, and may also have casting artifacts inconsistent with the technology used by the original pan's maker, such as a gate mark on the bottom of an early to mid- 20th century piece that would have employed a side-gating technique. Recasts are also typically smaller than the originals they attempt to duplicate, since an original pattern is slightly enlarged to offset the shrinkage that occurs during solidification.

For further reading, an article with photos of commonly-seen reproductions can be found here.

A note about "Made In USA": The great irony (no pun intended) about vintage cast iron ware is that there really are no pieces considered collectible that have that inscription. From the late nineteenth century forward, up until about 1960, foundries typically inscribed products merely with their city and state of origin, sometimes only the city, as in early pans made by Griswold simply marked "ERIE". That the products were made in the USA was a given. But, in the latter half of the 20th century, cheap imports began appearing in the marketplace. Part of their low cost was due to the fact they were produced from recycled scrap iron, and were not finished to give a polished-smooth cooking surface. The quality of domestic cast iron declined as foundries were forced to cut costs in order to compete. By adding "Made In USA", domestic producers hoped to call attention to, and differentiate their products from the imports. What little domestic cast iron ware production remains today is marked by awkwardly heavy pieces with grainy surfaces inside and out, mainly produced by automated factories. The workmanship of the last century has sadly been lost. Even cast iron ware bearing celebrity chefs' names is typically imported and of relatively poor quality.

In as much as a great deal of cast iron cookware of the late 19th and 20th centuries is deemed collectible, a considerable number of items from the various makers and eras is not. Most if not all bare iron ware not of domestic manufacture can be immediately eliminated, as can nearly everything made by automated production lines. Of the major U.S. foundries, the earlier output typically holds more value, as the scarcity of pieces in very good to excellent condition is high. The lesser interest shown in collecting pieces produced in the latter years of the major foundries' existence may be due to the de-emphasis of the more detailed markings and logos of their earlier designs, in addition to a perceived decline in quality.

Griswold pieces were made with a few variations on their "cross-in-double-circle" logo. The later pieces, with the "small block logo" and only "Erie, PA" are not considered as valuable as earlier pieces with the larger diameter "large block" or "slant" logos ("block" and "slant" describe the lettering style of the word Griswold in the trademark logos, while "large" and "small" refer to the diameter of the double circle), even though they are in quality generally on par with their large logo predecessors. Griswold trademarked pieces not marked "Erie, PA, USA" or "Erie, PA" were made in Sidney, Ohio by Wagner, after it acquired the rights to Griswold, and are not considered collectible (nor even really Griswold for that matter).

Similarly, Wagner Ware pieces not inscribed "Sidney -O-" (the O standing for Ohio) are not considered collectibles, and are usually of inferior finish quality. Pieces with the word Wagner in heavy block letters and Sidney Ohio USA inside an oval are from a very late period in Wagner history, and are not collectible. Pieces marked "Wagner's 1891 Original" and also inscribed with seasoning instructions were produced in 1991 as a commemorative series, and are not collectible.

Pieces marked with both the Wagner and Griswold trademarks were produced by Wagner for about a year after it acquired the rights to Griswold. You don't see very many of these offered for sale, but it still does not cause them to be considered rare or otherwise valuable.

Generally speaking, pieces created for advertising purposes are not considered as having collectible value. There are a few exceptions, however, which include some Griswold skillets-- including a regular skillet and a square breakfast skillet-- marked "Compliments 'Cliff' Cornell, The Cleveland Flux Co.", another marked "Rau Brothers, Hamburg, PA.", and yet another marked "50th Anniversary King Hdw. Co.". Wagner produced an advertising skillet for Wertz & Singer Co. of Middletown, OH. There are also griddles advertising Ballard Pancake Flour and skillet covers advertising Wesson and Mazola, made by Martin Stove & Range Co, which are considered collectible.

Finally, don't confine your search to just Griswold and Wagner pieces. Other early- to mid-twentieth century foundries such as Favorite Piqua Ware, Lodge, Birmingham Stove & Range, Martin Stove & Range, Vollrath, Wapak, and others made high-quality, well-finished cast iron ware in their heydays.

One more thought: The "rare", "HTF" (hard to find), "EUC" (excellent used condition) piece you see on eBay today is not the only one in the world. Don't overpay just to get it; another one will come along sooner than you think. Check back on Sunday.

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Selling Tips

Here are some helpful tips for eBay sellers when it comes to listing their vintage cast iron pieces for sale or auction.

Photos of Your Item

Pictures of your item are a primary tool for buyers to assess the condition of your piece of vintage cast iron cookware. This is the age of the digital camera. Photos are essentially free. Proofing photos is instantaneous. There is no excuse, therefore, for having a dark, blurry, or only a single photo of your item-- it only makes people think you're hiding something.

Photograph your pieces outside in good daylight. Flash photography tends to under-expose black cast iron as the camera's programming attempts to avoid over-exposing light-colored backgrounds, resulting in the "murky black blob on a white bedsheet" phenomenon.

Show the entire piece from top to bottom, and both sides. Clearly feature any flaws in casting you observe, or any damage such as cracks, chips, rust, or pitting. Conversely, ultra-close-up photos that show the pores in the iron are of no help.

Item Condition

Let's talk more about damage. Disclose any cracks, chips, or pitting from rust in your description even if you are able to photograph them clearly. Place your item on a hard, flat, level surface, and check it for warping-- it should not rock, wobble or spin when you press downward on the rim or bat sideways at the handle. Don't say it sits flat on your stovetop-- your stovetop is not necessarily a flat, hard, level surface. Don't say "I don't see any whatever", when asked about "whatever"-- either it has "whatever", or it doesn't. If a piece is coated with decades of burnt-on crud, however, feel free to disclaim any knowledge of what's under it, but don't price your item as if it just came fresh from the foundry.

Item History

Collectors don't care-- and non-collectors shouldn't, either-- if the skillet came across the Rockies with your Great Great Great Grandfather "Cookie" in a wagon train heading way out west. It's quite likely the story your Grandma told you about the piece is flat-out fiction, and she doesn't even know it. It's possible the piece is not considered as having any collectible value, no matter how old it is. It may be very evident to an experienced collector that your information is blatantly incorrect. So, please, don't get defensive when someone who knows vintage cast iron tries to tell you that your piece is actually from the 1950s, not the 1890s as you were led to believe, and is worth about $25 if in perfect condition, as opposed to the $250 you'd like to think it's worth, even in its current deplorable condition. It's not realistic to expect a buyer to pay a premium for any sentimental value you place on a piece. If a family member wouldn't give you the price you're asking for it, neither should you expect that a stranger on eBay would.

My Item Is "Unique"

Technically, every piece of vintage cast iron cookware is in some way unique. Multiple patterns were created for each pan, and each differed in some small way from the other. Each time a pattern was removed from the mold it created, there was a possibility that some small fragment of compacted sand might move or fall off, resulting in a casting anomaly. But flaws are flaws, and damage is damage. Just because the pan you have for sale has a slag inclusion, e.g. a bit of foreign scrap metal that inadvertently got cast into the piece, or perhaps marks from some ill-advised power tool grinding by a previous owner, it does not somehow make your piece more valuable.

Name Dropping

Not all old skillets are Wagner or Griswold. Both foundries were very proud of the high quality products they produced, and cast their names and trademarks prominently into every piece. The only time they did not was for pieces specifically made for the hardware, department, or building supply store markets. There were literally hundreds of foundries operating in the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries, so don't put "Wagner??? Griswold???" in your listing when you don't know who made it (doing so may in fact be in violation of eBay policy). Simply ask for identification help in your listing, and someone knowledgeable will likely contact you.

After The Sale

Let's talk about packing and shipping. Many people think cast iron is indestructible-- it is not. The properties that make cast iron hard also make it brittle, just like the properties of glass. It is therefore extremely important that cast iron be packaged in such a way that insures its best chances for surviving the rigors of shipping.

In no case is an envelope acceptable, padded, priority mail, or otherwise, and no matter how small or flat the piece.

Crumpled newspaper, tightly packed, and bubble wrap are preferred packing materials; styrofoam peanuts or other loose media that may allow the item to move around inside the box during shipping are not.

The piece itself should be wrapped in multiple layers of bubble wrap first, and the bubble wrap secured with tape. The box used should be at least two inches larger in all directions, meaning there should be at all points between the bubble-wrapped piece and the box a space of 2" which should be filled with suitable packing material. In no case should the piece be able to move within the box, nor should it be able to come in direct contact with the walls of the carton during shipment. For large, very valuable, or irreplaceable pieces, packing in a box within another box is an excellent idea.