New member here.

C

Christian James

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I am interested in cast iron as cooking implements, not as collectibles, so I don't know if I am in the right place, but this seemed like the best area. Ten days ago I serendipitously found my first vintage piece of CI on my lunch break while waiting for my philly cheesesteak to be made. Rather than stand around playing with my phone I decided to pass the time in the antique store next door.

I stumbled onto this, an SBL Griswold no. 8 with grooved handle.

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I didn't know anything about cast iron, but I saw that the pan had an interior surface far smoother than the Lodges I had at home. Intriguing. A quick consult on my phone revealed that Griswolds were highly regarded. Wonderful. The only issue was the price. The seller wanted $35 for it. I knew that was a good, not great price. The thing is, I know my area. This was the first time I've ever seen vintage cast iron of any kind in an antique store or flea market. I guess I could always go on EBay and try to do better, but I'd have to pay shipping charges of $25+ as well as risk buying a pan with defects. Here was a pan already inspected, with no cracks and only minor wobble. So I bought it. There was a greater likelihood I'd regret passing it up than I would finding another in similar condition and cheaper. I consoled myself with the fact that the pan was already cleaned up, with no crud or gunk to remove. All I needed to do when I got home was give it a good washing and then fire up the oven to begin its seasoning process.

I've been reaching for it ever since.

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Not bad for your first post. Griswold anything now days says dollars. Even though the BB (Blue Book) list it as $15-$20 your still o.k. in my opinion. Since it's warped would for sure lessen the value but if you have a gas range you will never notice the wobble.
There are a lot of informational link here so do yourself a favor and look through what CIC has to offer and you will for sure be looking for additional pieces.
 
Thanks guys. The warp is very minor. I can slide a credit card underneath the pan in spots, but not a dime. As I have a gas range it's a non-issue.
 
Welcome Christian . I'd say you did just fine on your purchase . Although the old Griswold pieces are more valuable , the grooved handle skillets are very well made . They are also lighter than pieces by many other companies .

The #8 is one of the most useful sizes as well .
 
For a first vintage piece that's a nice one. It won't be long and you will want to add a few more. Just a thought about finding a few more, next time you're at a family wedding you could throw that topic out in conversation and you may find one or two more.

Welcome to the forum and a new unrealized hobby.
 
Thanks for the welcome fellas.

Steven C said:
For a first vintage piece that's a nice one. It won't be long and you will want to add a few more. Just a thought about finding a few more, next time you're at a family wedding you could throw that topic out in conversation and you may find one or two more.

Welcome to the forum and a new unrealized hobby.
Click to expand...

You're more right than you know.

I picked out that first piece because she was cleanest and I only had enough cash on me to buy a single pan. But the shop owner had others. I went back a few days later to see if I could rescue those poor, neglected things. I wasn't able to save them all, but I did come away with these.

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$100 for the set. I know I overpaid, but I consider it the price of education. At the very least I can always look back at how much I paid for these so as not to repeat my mistake.

Now that I have these there is no longer a driving need to get a better pan than my rough, porcine Lodge and I can be more discriminating with any future purchases.
 
Maybe not cheap, Christian, but there they were right in front of you! If you didn't want to spend who knows how much time and effort (and gasoline in your car) to look for that "set", I think you did very well.
 
Finding nice matching skillets , you did great going back and buying them . As mentioned you can spend so much time and money driving all over the place trying to make a set .

You're off to a very good start I'd say .:icon_thumbsup:
 
The #7 and #6 are the older ones . They are what is called the "early" handle Small Logo and date from 1939 to 1944 . They are the ones I collected for a long time until I started with the Large Block Logo .

My daughter now has the set of Early Handle Small Logo . They are every bit as well made as the LBL skillets and can be bought at much better prices usually .
 
Since all LBL are EPU, it's not really necessary to append it. It also seems eBay sellers think buyers are preoccupied with p/ns (and pattern letters), but not really so much.
 
Maybe some of us less educated folks appreciate the whole story when we hone in on one aspect of our search, including part numbers. Especially when there are options like this example taken off this site and the medium logo has been downplayed.



Hilditch
 
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