Gate Marked Skillet ID

[DougH]

I picked up this gated skillet over the weekend at a garage sale for a couple bucks. When I bought it, the handle looked familiar to me, but I haven't been able to find anything like it on the unmarked iron page. Anyone have any idea, or will it just be a cool old mystery piece?

http://imgur.com/a/4NAva

 

[Doug D.]

You won't find gate marked pieces on the unmarked page; it's for IDing 20th-century unmarkeds. IDing older unmarked bottom-gated pieces is largely an exercise in futility. With a recast, which yours probably is, about all one can tell is maybe who made the piece it was copied from.

 

[DougH]

You won't find gate marked pieces on the unmarked page; it's for IDing 20th-century unmarkeds. IDing older unmarked bottom-gated pieces is largely an exercise in futility. With a recast, which yours probably is, about all one can tell is maybe who made the piece it was copied from.

I suspected it might not be identifiable, but went looking anyway because I feel like I've seen that handle profile recently. Maybe it was just a picture someone else posted somewhere. Is there something specific that leads you to believe it's a recast?

The cleanup on this will probably have to wait until I get a bigger e-tank set up. This is about the size of a #8, and I don't quite have the depth currently for that...the tip of the handle sticks out of the solution.

 

[Doug D.]

Is there something specific that leads you to believe it's a recast?

Just that by the time skillets like this were being made, bottom gating was no longer the norm. If there are artifacts of side gating on the lip, that would mean there was no reason for a bottom gate, hence a recast.

 

[DougH]

Just that by the time skillets like this were being made, bottom gating was no longer the norm. If there are artifacts of side gating on the lip, that would mean there was no reason for a bottom gate, hence a recast.

Cool, I was wondering if it might be something like that, but I didn't know my history well enough to be sure. Thanks!

 

[DougH]

Thanks to good timing from Benjamin, he posted an Erie skillet in this thread:

http://www.castironcollector.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2223

and that's the handle profile that I think matches mine above. So, maybe this one I picked up was re-cast from an Erie originally...it's a theory anyway. I don't know if I'm right or not, but that at least is the handle shape I was thinking of.