Gate Marked and Enameled ?

[Scott M]

This pan has me stumped, I can't find any information on gate marked skillets having enamel or porcelain on the inside or outside let alone both.
My research on this pan is how I stumbled across this site, any and all help and information on this pan would be greatly appreciated.

I saw this picture of a skillet for sale cheap and thought I needed a new project to experiment on.

The handle told me it should be gate marked so I had the guy send me a picture of the bottom. (four days later I received this)



I bought it and after initial cleaning I have this.

 

[GTurner]

Be careful of eating out of old enameled pieces. Lead was used in the enamel of some manufacturers. You could probably do a lead test on it.

 

[Scott M]

This won't be going in the kitchen, I just bought it for being odd.

 

[D_Madden]

If you read on the history of vollrath, they were perfecting enameled cast iron back in the 1860's and 70's... so gate marked and enameled aren't that rare... although once the enamel was cracked and chipped most pans were probably tossed... so finding one now might be more unsual.

 

[Scott M]

Thanks very much for the info, it seems the color is consistent with Vollrath.
So now some more research and some experimenting on removal of the porcelain/enamel. I understand it's almost impossible to remove, but I like a good challenge.

 

[Rodney Walker]

Why remove it? You already said you don't plan to eat out of it. Even damaged it's still a very old enameled pan and I would think more interesting that way than stripped.

 

[Scott M]

After learning what I can about stripping it (probably why I shouldn't) I'm thinking a kitchen clock will be more interesting than a old pan on a self in my basement.

 

[Rodney Walker]

It's your pan. You can do what you want but I really hate the thought of an old gate marked pan getting turned into a clock.