DougSahady
New member
Hi All,
Over the last couple of years I've picked up some cast iron cookware. Mostly newer Lodge pieces, but also a few Griswold and Wagner.
I'm not a collector. I use these for cooking (love cast iron cooking), but as a history buff I do like knowing something about the history of the vintage pieces.
Which leads me to my question. Yesterday my wife was helping my mother-in-law clean out her attic, and she brought home a hammered deep skillet and lid. It had a little surface rust on in in places, but cleaned up very nicely. In fact I used it to make a pot roast in it yesterday. What confused me is that it is completely unmarked. No a number or letter anywhere. I don't currently have any pictures of it, but is nicely made. The hammered dimples are not too large or deep as some I have seen pictured. The lid has a series of concentric circles underneath.
My mother-in-law says that it belonged to her mother in law, and she remembers her using it frequently when she and my father-in-law were married by in 1947. From what I've been able to gather surfing the net, the 40's seems to be when this hammered cast iron was most popular. So I'm figuring it was made about that time, but being completely unmarked, I'd like to have an idea of who may have made it. Is there any identifying marks that I should look for? As I said the lid has some concentric circles on the underside, and I also noticed the handle has a flat area where it connects to the pan, but the flat stops right there (it doesn't go down onto the side of the pan as I've seen in the BSR. Also no ring on the bottom, it's completely flat. And as I mentioned it has nicely done hammering, not too big, but not tiny either.
Any help with identifying the maker would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Doug
Over the last couple of years I've picked up some cast iron cookware. Mostly newer Lodge pieces, but also a few Griswold and Wagner.
I'm not a collector. I use these for cooking (love cast iron cooking), but as a history buff I do like knowing something about the history of the vintage pieces.
Which leads me to my question. Yesterday my wife was helping my mother-in-law clean out her attic, and she brought home a hammered deep skillet and lid. It had a little surface rust on in in places, but cleaned up very nicely. In fact I used it to make a pot roast in it yesterday. What confused me is that it is completely unmarked. No a number or letter anywhere. I don't currently have any pictures of it, but is nicely made. The hammered dimples are not too large or deep as some I have seen pictured. The lid has a series of concentric circles underneath.
My mother-in-law says that it belonged to her mother in law, and she remembers her using it frequently when she and my father-in-law were married by in 1947. From what I've been able to gather surfing the net, the 40's seems to be when this hammered cast iron was most popular. So I'm figuring it was made about that time, but being completely unmarked, I'd like to have an idea of who may have made it. Is there any identifying marks that I should look for? As I said the lid has some concentric circles on the underside, and I also noticed the handle has a flat area where it connects to the pan, but the flat stops right there (it doesn't go down onto the side of the pan as I've seen in the BSR. Also no ring on the bottom, it's completely flat. And as I mentioned it has nicely done hammering, not too big, but not tiny either.
Any help with identifying the maker would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Doug