Gated Gem Pan Value? Maker?

J

JeffreyL

Member
stopped into a store today to look for something for the wife and naturally i got side tracked by iron. found this old gate marked gem pan. I know the possibility of identifying the maker is a long shot but i figured i would try. only marking is a raised 3 with a dash on backside of one handle. pan is extremely light, and the backside of one cup in the picture looks like its cracked but it doesnt show through to the other side, and it doesnt show on the rim of the cup, upon further examination and a light flick from my pocket knife it appears to be extra metal or a raised rib of iron like the mold had a crack in it? is it worth $20?
https://imgur.com/a/7bid7
 
I'd pay $20 for it. Even if it isn't identifiable, it's an old gate marked #3 gem pan (waterman and Griswold both made similar pans that stick to the #3 numbering scheme... the pan identifiers were probably established by Waterman in the 1850's - 60's... and everyone who came along later just stuck with their numbers for the most part.)

besides those clean up pretty well and look so good on display with all those curves...

the gem page is a good one to have bookmarked.
http://www.castironcollector.com/gems.php
 
Is it possible the mark on the upper left cup on the backside of pan is a little xtra iron that seeped out a crack in the mold?
 
$20 is plenty fair if it is not cracked. No idea on the maker (I have the same pan). Tough to say if it is a crack or sand shift, given the size of the area I suspect if it was a crack it would show through to the other side.
 
I went back and looked at it for quite some time with an LED light, and I don't think it's a crack, but it's in the lye tank so I guess we will see. I agree I would think a crack that size would show up on the other side, and with being that long it would make the cup loose, which it is not. I took some pics closeup on the effected area
https://imgur.com/a/7bid7
 
Pulled it out of lye tank today and did some scrubbing, I still don't think it's a crack, almost appears to be raised metal. Also found some other marks on the same cup, and one or two on other cups. I also took pics of the inside of the cups that have the marks on them. Maybe the mold was not in good shape?
Here's the pics after lye tank, i put it back in to clean up some more. Can anyone explain the markings?

https://imgur.com/a/OqRle
 
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