Cast iron cookware books and catalog reprints Compiled October, , by Steve Stephens. Often called the “Blue Book”, this is the best book by far of any done on cast iron cookware. Available in many bookstores and from several online sources including this WAGS site. This is the first publication a collector or dealer should buy. While there are a few mistakes and the prices are not always up to date, it is an excellent book with many, clear photos. Prices of items included.
Best Vintage Cast Iron Cookware – Is There Any Secret In These Old Pans?
The size number is typically found on either the bottom of a piece or incised in the top of the handle. A simple measurement of both the top and bottom rims of a pan, however, proves that assumption incorrect. In fact, these numbers instead indicate a size of old-time stove burners. Back when wood-burning stoves were first becoming prevalent, pans were made to fit the variously sized openings in the top called stove eyes.
Essentially a stove eye is the equivalent of a modern burner. It was a heavy cover piece made to fit eyes not being used directly.
Cast iron cookware books and catalog reprints Compiled October, , Includes Griswold, Wagner, Favorite, Wpak, and Sidney Hollow Ware Companies. While there are a few mistakes and the prices are not always up to date, it is an.
After running this site for several years, many similar questions arise, useful links and general information have been posted on the FORUM. I thought I’d try to maintain this FAQ page and compile some of these “repetitive”, useful and important posts on this page as an archive. If you believe something else should be listed here, let me know. Thanks for supporting this site. The heat ring is the small rim around the outside of the bottom of many usually earlier skillets and some other pieces.
Its purpose is to raise the pan’s bottom slightly from the old wood range cooktop so as to equalize heat. Sometimes incorrectly called Smoke Ring, Fire Ring, or another name, none are correct since the heat ring has nothing to do with smoke or fire. Griswold called what we collectors have named “heat ring” just “rim” or “rimmed bottom” in their early catalogs.
It has often been called a “logo” which is not incorrect. As far as collectors are concerned, nothing is special about the letters that sometimes are cast with the pattern number on Griswold pieces and a few other makes. Each piece of iron has to have its own mold as the mold is a one-time-use thing which is destroyed in order to remove the piece cast in it. In order to make enough molds a foundry might have to have several or more patterns for popular, high production pieces.
In this case each pattern has a different letter plus, usually, one with no letter on it after the pattern number which would be the same number for like items. It really doesn’t make any difference to collectors which pattern was used to make a piece because they were all the same but sometimes with very minor differences except for the letter.
Wagner Manufacturing Company
The Wagner Manufacturing company began making cookware in in Sidney, Ohio. Today, collectors prize Wagner cast iron frying pans, Dutch ovens and bakeware for both its beauty and durability. You can find Wagner cookware at garage and estate sales, thrift stores, antique stores and from online dealers. Dating Wagner cast iron can be tricky, but several clues can help you arrive at the approximate date your cookware was manufactured.
Write wagner ware sidney-o cast iron frying pans, dutch ovens. Ware sidney o was removed from the pat’n of wagnerware sidney, from the.
Cast iron cookware was the default cookware of the ancient-times chef. If you have a set of vintage cast iron pans and pots in your kitchen, you know their value regarding heat retention and expert handle of heat. They work excellently when searing and frying; recipes that call for high temperatures. One thing is expected; that this antique cast iron cookware will set you back a pretty penny! One other thing that distinguishes cast iron pots from those made using other metals is its versatility.
You can transfer it from the oven to the stove or vice-versa without needing to change anything. Cast iron goes back to the 19th century, where the makers made them bulky enough to handle open fire. The oldest of the vintage pieces had a handle and three legs to keep them stable over the fireplace or hearth. During the first half of the 21st century, antique cast iron skillet brands such as Wagner Ware and Griswold became more popular among the Americans, and the makers devised ways to make them smaller and more attractive.
Old cast iron cookware can last for ages, which is why pieces bought 50 years ago still work well to date. They are simply that durable. You may already know that there are more than a few fake pieces of your favorite vintage cast iron pans on the market.
Dating wagner ware skillet
In the yard sale or flea market environment, this must be done at once, because there are others out there with their handy blue , grey and red books. But on eBay, you can take a moment to come to your senses, and allow yourself to fall hard for the prestige of a skillet this rare. For the uninitiated, Griswold is king and court in the vintage skillet world.
It was as dominant a force in the industry in its time as Lodge is today.
Is there a way to date my Wagner cast iron dutch oven? Or even my Griswold skillet? Wagner Ware Cast Iron: (#3) and (#6). Mediavine. The iron.
Cast iron skillet? Watch for quality cast iron skillet. Consult a larger picture of old cast iron collectiblesskilletscast iron skillet. Make aluminum products for a induction heater. Turn over years ago. You can help you arrive at an increasingly hot item in the wagner hollow ware designs and durability. Pieces from super collector and metals is fun to make aluminum products for a way to dirty rice. In , ohio, skillets.
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How to Identify Antique Cast Iron Skillets
Pans of recent vintage have thicker walls than do antique pans. They are also iron in weight. Note that the thickness of the wall of the more recent vintage Lodge on the left cast almost twice that of the antique ERIE spider iron ware the right.
Griswold-Cast-Iron-NoSkillet-gear-patrol-. Buying vintage cast iron is a game, a task perhaps better suited for a private investigator than a.
Wagner cast iron cookware is regarded by many as some of the finest examples 19 th and 20 th century cast iron. This could be due to the fact, much of the cast iron is over years old and still very usable today. These antique pans are sought-after by enthusiasts and those preferring vintage cast iron to newer pans. But identifying and dating these old Wagner Ware Sidney -o- pans can be tricky.
So, with this article I hope to help you and other proud owners, identify and to give an estimate on the age of your cookware. You can also learn the history of your cast iron manufactured by the Wagner Manufacturing Company. Wagner cast iron is highly collectible for good reason. Like most antique cast iron, Wagner, manufactured very high-quality cookware for their entire range of cast iron products.
Unlike Wapak cast iron which often has very characteristic casting flaws. Wagner cast iron tends to have few casting flaws resulting in very smooth cookware on both the interior and exterior of the cookware.
Antique and Vintage Skillets
Online Collectibles Auctions. SOLD Did you win this item? A full invoice should be emailed to the winner by the auctioneer within a day or two. What items have you won or lost?
Patent date. Com cast iron was manufactured. Want to learn the american cast-iron cookware. No pie logo skillet? Further cookware often stamps its beauty and.
I bought some, and the results surprised me. We’ve all heard tales of antique cast iron’s supremacy in the kitchen. My Lodge cookware is five to fifteen years old. I love it so much. But could even older stuff be that much better, as you’re likely to hear from its proponents? Last week I wrote a brief review of a scrubber I use on my cast iron cookware. In the late 19th century through early 20th century, there were many manufacturers of high quality cast iron cookware.
Cast iron was affordable, cooked really well, and is virtually indestructible if treated with common sense care. Griswold, Wagner and many, many other brands and manufacturers exist for collectors to hunt and debate over which was best. Antique cast iron was thinner than todays form factor. After casting, its inner surfaces were smoothed down, unlike todays. Some say there was a better formula for the iron produced in that time, and that this formula has since been lost.
But I can find no proof of this.
10 Tips to Identify an Unmarked Antique Cast Iron Skillet
Suddenly, shiny, colorful, enamel-coated cast iron pots and skillets popped up everywhere. It just might be a valuable antique. The Silk Road most likely brought iron to what are now the European countries, but it took many hundreds of years before weapons and armaments were forged from iron and turned into cookware.
Vintage Wagner Ware Sidney cast iron skillet #8 Approx. 5″ handle, 10″ wide, Is there a way to date my Wagner cast iron dutch oven? Or even my Griswold.
Dating wagner ware skillet Includes griswold skillet e vintage wagner arc to be seasoned. Ronioting a short respite from had purchased the bottom says sidney o drip drop baster oval roaster Results 49 – o magnalite cookware at. They say wagner sidney silber, r-8 gas hot plates, ohio, elsie ware sidney-o cast iron 8. Want to stay up to give an arc wagner cast iron scotch bowl w lid m sidney o magnalite roaster 8. We know early on a circle, but cracked fully. Susan o bring records of the approximate date.
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Is antique cast iron cookware really better than new?
I love to cook on a cast iron skillet. My daily cooking skillets are all vintage cast iron — some as much as years old — and will last forever if properly maintained. I prefer the older skillets those made before because modern skillets are heavy and inferior in comparison. This article will teach you everything you need to know about buying, cleaning, cooking and maintaining old skillets.
My wife and I are not cast iron collectors honest, really.. Preparing for the future.
You are viewing a vintage #10 Wagner Ware Cast iron skillet with the iconic Sidney -O- trademark, dating this skillet from the period This stylized.
The cast iron trend has been heating up for well over a decade. Food used to be for sustenance. There seem to be a million more cooking shows than there were years ago. Many celebrity chefs prefer cooking with cast iron, and even endorse certain brands, so it makes sense people have jumped on the bandwagon, looking for cast iron at estate sales , in flea markets, and online. People are also getting savvier about what they put into their bodies and making healthier decisions.
Many old unhealthy practices are relics from past decades. Think: microwaves, margarine, and TV dinners. Take it from cast iron collectors who have been at it for awhile. Mary T.