Is this a pre-Lodge?

Kenny_R

New member
Hey all. Found this for $5 today at a junk store. Looks like someone seasoned it over some surface rust, but it's straight, flat, and smooth all around.

Is this what some say is between Blacklock and Lodge?

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Here's another view.

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I have the exact same skillet, but yours was a much better bargain than mine. ;) As a native Tennessean, I'm a big fan of Lodge... so I paid $25 for mine when I found it in an antique shop... that's a lot, I know.

If I understand correctly, this would be considered Lodge... not necessarily "pre-Lodge" or Blacklock. I'm just not sure if this came before or after the marked Lodge pieces that look almost identical except for the LODGE arc logo... or maybe they're contemporary to those pieces, just unmarked.

Hopefully someone can help put this on the timeline for us.
 
If I understand correctly, this would be considered Lodge... not necessarily "pre-Lodge" or Blacklock. I'm just not sure if this came before or after the marked Lodge pieces that look almost identical except for the LODGE arc logo... or maybe they're contemporary to those pieces, just unmarked.


That would make sense to me. Thanks for your input!

PS- I'm headed to Birmingham at the end of this month- anywhere in particular I should hit up for iron?
 
You want me to give away my secret hunting grounds?

Only kidding... I have no secrets.

Honestly, there probably aren't too many places I haven't checked out yet... as far as the usual suspects go. The antique and junk shops are all hit or miss... it just depends on the day, but I rarely find much. The local thrift shops (Salvation Army, Goodwill, and the like) all seem to have people behind the scenes keeping iron from making it to the floor (selling on Ebay perhaps?)... or there is another iron hunter who always gets to it first. I have only found 3 pieces of cast iron total at the thrift shops- a modern Lodge #8, a Lodge guitar novelty piece, and modern made in China "cookie skillet" (I bought it for a spoon rest... it was $1). That is seriously all I have found in the last 6 months.

All that being said, estate sales are becoming my only hope. I have gotten the best deals and the luckiest finds (all covered in gunk hiding their ID and value) from estate sales.

If you plan to pass through Montgomery area (I-65), you may want to give "Prattville Pickers" antique mall a try. There's at least one dealer there with a good amount of iron... some at good prices.
 
I have this same skillet as well. It has its rough patches, including a mold repair that left a fingerprint to be cast in the pan wall and a few casting voids here and there. I sometimes question its origin, but until some proof that it isn't Lodge is produced, I consider it Lodge.
 
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