Griswold and chrome finish

S

SDodson

New member
Greetings -

I have a #14 Griswold pan & lid that has a chrome finish. I have seen very few on the major for-sale web sites. I'd appreciate any info about this finish. Was it a gimmick? Are pans with this finish more or less collectible? Was there a specific period when this was used?

TIA,
Steve D.
 
Old company literature is hard to come by, and doesn't always offer definitive answers . That which I have seen don't include chromed skillets past a #10. One from the early 1930s says that they were offered in the "Silverlike" finish up through #14. Silverlike was apparently an unpolished chrome plating, left a dull matte gray in appearance. One wonders what the market would have been for such a large skillet and lid in fully polished chrome, as it literally doubled the price over bare iron versions. Chrome pieces are more valuable than bare iron ones today only if they are unused NOS with no wear or damage, usually an unlikely find.
 
Thanks for the reply and the info. Must be the Silverlike finish then. I read somewhere it was called DuoChrome or something similar. Unused/NOS would be very hard to find I'd imagine. This one was used during round-up I was told (I acquired it at an estate sale in 1973)
I am uploading a couple of pictures to see if you agree this is the Silverlike finish. Thanks again for your tie.
 

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Irrespective of what the old catalogs list, the possibility always exists that they either didn't publish it, or it could be had custom order. What constitutes Chrome and DuChro is sometimes hard to differentiate. DuChro allegedly stood for "dull chrome" (as opposed to "dual"), meaning that on the face of it, it should be more like the definition of "Silverlike". Some descriptions of DuChro make it just sound like marketing speak for the leaving unpolished of those areas of items that could not be mirror polished due to their shape, anyway. I would say your set was probably labeled as (or considered) chromium finish. It apparently saw minimal use; the cooking surfaces and halfway up the sidewalls are usually seen worn to bare iron.
 
I have never seen one like this at all! A #14 with a lid is very good, but this? It depends on the person, but Im sure its up there on the ladder of prices.....thanks for the pics!!!
 
SeanD said:
I have never seen one like this at all! A #14 with a lid is very good, but this? It depends on the person, but Im sure its up there on the ladder of prices.....thanks for the pics!!!
Click to expand...
Hi, Sean...
I have seen a few pots done up with a chrome-like finish but never any frying pans. Thanks for the response!
 
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