ID Help with 8 Inch Posnet or Footed Skillet

[Blake Awbrey]

This is the first piece I experimented with in the electrolysis tank I built using the directions from this site. I did this one first because it was the most corroded and rust covered piece I had. I wish I had taken a before picture to go with the pictures of it below showing it after bathing in the tank. The difference is unbelievable though there is some pitting.

The Posnet measures 7-3/4" across at lip, the lip is 1/4" thick and the handle measures 6" long from the outside of the lip. The handle is embossed with "8 I N" in 1" high symbols. The body of the piece measures 2-5/8" tall from lip to bottom and the legs are 1-1/2" tall for a total of 4-1/8" in height from the lip to the surface on which you set it.

The legs are odd in that they are crudely made yet 6 sided. The side facing inward is one large flat side then the outward facing portion of the legs is made of 5 equal angled flat edges.

Here are some photos with detail insets:

The only markings on the piece are the "8 I N" on the handle. I would deeply appreciate any information about this Posnet especially as to the maker, age and if possible value.

Thank you for your time and help.

Sincerely, Blake

 

[JMoss]

Hello Blake,
I have run across several of these in sizes from 8 to 14. They always have high prices and no information.

I have tried without any success to get information on them. Very frustrating. If you find anything on them please let me know. I live in Texas and thought they might be coming from Mexico, but wouldn't they be marked in cm rather than inches?

Jmoss

 

[Steve Stephens]

These are early "spiders" I think meant for hearth cooking and made in the US. I don't think they are posnets which are different in shape as depicted by the photos in the first three rows or so in this Google Image link:
http://www.google.com/search?q=cast...SXigLopICoDw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1699&bih=778

Early iron is often a bit crude or primitive and heavy with heavy legs often showing the effects of sitting in hot coals. Cast iron hearth utensils are not something I am too familiar with.

 

[Blake Awbrey]

Thank you both for your replies. I ran some searches for spider skillets and I believe you are right, Steve. I'm now trying to pin down a date period; at least with-in 15 years either side of when it was probably made. I saw several listed as "1850's-1880's" but the seller had no information in fact to back up that date range. Any ideas?

JMoss, I am pretty sure that these are not coming from Mexico. I've seen their stuff and the quality of the metal is generally poor. I found this piece in an old barn in Fredricksburg, Texas; the Hill Country area of Texas that was settled by German immigrants beginning in the 1700's. The ranch where I found the piece has been owned by the same family since 1798. I hope this helps.

Yours, Blake

 

[Steve Stephens]

I am looking at some catalog pages from stove companies c. 1898-1998 and they show these old three leg "spiders" or skillets with covers. The style shown seems to be earlier than your piece but that may only be because of different manufacturers or that the catalogs were using old "cuts" to show the pieces.

Here I have some pages from an Atlanta Stove Works catalog dated 1924 and it shows "stove spiders" (common stovetop skillets) along with some "Country Hollow Ware such as "leg skillets" much like your pan- and shallow ovens, deep ovens, and lids.

As I have long believed many of the hearth pieces were made well into the 20th century. One detail I cannot see is if the later pans are bottom gated.

The Atlanta catalog also states "The Atlanta Stove Works and its predecessor, the Georgia Stove & Range Company, have had a continued existence of thirty-five years. The catalog is "issued 1924" which would make the companies' roots go back to 1889.

When hollowware makers did not put their names or place of manufacture on them nor have some very distinctive feature to the pans I think there is no way to identify who made the pans or when they were made. We can only guess and approximate. Possibly some of the collectors and users of the early hearth cookware would have a few answers. Those collectors are likely few and far between. I don't know anybody.