Valuable Piece of History or Low Quality Junk

[Sylvain de Margerie]

I have a completely unmarked cast iron/forged pot with cover. There are no numbers, letters or symbols anywhere. I would guess it would have been fabricated by an anonymous village foundry/blacksmith in eastern Canada.

The lid appears to have been poured in an open mold as the underside has pour lines and tool marks where the metal was unevenly spread. The handle appears to have been forged and attached to the lid separately and a bit crooked.

The container itself is very rough inside and out. The two studs, to which the wire handle is attached, appear to have been forged separately and set like rivets through the container edge. There are grinding marks on the edge of the container near a stud.

The bottom of the container is smooth from wear but has pits that don't appear rusty. I'm wondering if these could be from carbon inclusions in the low quality metal.

3 representative pictures are enclosed. These and others are linked here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B0jjfCaTRaAaRnJXRWw5cUV5Z2s?usp=sharing

I have cooked several meals in it after removing the carbon black stove polish that someone had rubbed it with.

Any idea or opinion would be appreciated.

Sylvain

 

[KevinE]

That's a nice, old pot. I would hardly put it in a category of low quality.

 

[GTurner]

Junk, to me, would be not worth having and not being usable. It may or may not be valuable, but is not junk.