Sperry & Co #3 Cauldron and Lid

J

Joann B

New member
I got a three-legged, rounded bottom, black cast iron Dutch oven-type thing at an estate sale and I would like to know how old it is. The lid has No. 3 on it along with the D.R. SPERRY BATANIA, IL imprint. There also is a small curved rectangle imprint on the lid but I can't decipher any letters or words. The lid is concave like for campfire cooking. The handle on the lid is attached with a screw and a square nut. The cauldron has a wire handle and 9BB imprinted on the bottom where the three little legs are. Would appreciate any help in dating this piece.
 
Ai-yi-yi Jack, uploading a pic on this site would require my hiring an IT type to do it for me. Very complicated business getting pics to required size! And after I labored over my paragraph-long, extremely detailed description of the pot in question. Take a stab at it please.
Jo Ann
 
Nope, I've been wrong too many times.

But seriously, you may want to take a look at letting Imgur.com host your pictures. Very easy to use and size has never been a problem

Good luck

Jack
 
Joan,
You have done very well. It took me a while to figure it out also. you can put all your pics in one post on imgur and better yet you can can make it "by invitaion only" so that you do not have the uniformed commenting on your post. Now lets see if we we can help you.

Jack
 
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Although they could probably date to around the same time period (late 1800's) the kettle was not made by Sperry and is not the correct style piece that goes with the Sperry lid. The lid is not designed to set down inside the bottom piece as yours does. It should be a shorter camp oven style pot with a flat instead of rounded bottom.

Here is one on ebay with the correct bottom piece although I feel the seller is very optimistic with his asking price.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-D-R...934064?hash=item3614e74230:g:BD0AAOSwdGFY0X7D
 
It's good, then, that I happen to love mismatched things, and I'm pleased that it's so old. When I found the pot sitting outside with 2" of water in the bottom I just had to pay the $20 (!) to rescue it. Such abuse of cast iron will not be tolerated!
Thanks for your expertise Jack. Much appreciated.
 
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