Kettle with sprue?

[John Boger]

Cast iron is not my primary focus although I appreciate the beauty of much of it. Over the years I've owned several kettles. Only one so far had a sprue and not a gate mark. Now I might have a second, but I'd like to have a more experienced person (or persons) tell me if that's true or not. I've attached three photos.

If the kettle does have a sprue, approximately when would this kettle have been made? And if it is not a sprue, same question.

John

 

[Doug D.]

That would be a sprue mark. Kettles such as these were cast using a 3-part pattern. Dating is difficult as pots like this are seen imported from England as well as US-made. The gray book covers pieces like this extensively, but it is daunting to try to narrow down dating by characteristics that may have evolved over a century. Overall shape, the configuration of bail ears, the cross-sectional shape of ears and legs all figure into dating according to the volume referenced. Without doing a deep dive, I'd say yours is ca. early to mid-1800s.

 

[SeanD]

Im not familiar with any kind of kettle. I would love to have one tho....yours is nice!

 

[John Boger]

Doug:

Thank you for your response. I did think it was a sprue, but good to hear from someone better informed than me. I understand the difficulty of dating this sort of utilitarian object. Although methods of construction may vary, this bulbous form is found around the world. I think of ladderback chairs. I think because these utilitarian chairs were made for many, many years, often with the same materials and construction techniques, over a wide geographic area, it is often difficult to date when made and where. This doesn't stop dealers from fabricating stories, however.

John