Not sure what I bought today, but I like it.

The whole reason I got into cast iron skillets was because I dropped the one I inherited from my grandmother and I went searching to see if I could find one just like it. Today, I might have come close. My grandmother's skillet had a raised #7 on the handle and an ampersand (the "&" symbol) as a molder's mark. I sent a picture of it to Lodge and they said it "might" be one of their early ones and they had never seen an ampersand used as a molder's mark. They even said it might have been made between 1910-1920 ... But I thought Lodge wrote "Lodge" on those early skillets? Anyway, today I found a #8 that looks alot like my grandmother's skillet ... or at least I think it will once I get the thick crud off of it.

Here's the handle from my grandmother's skillet:



And the underside ...



Two differences I noticed are: 1. The Griswold looking "V" at the base of the handle. On my grandmother's skillet it looks less pronounced than on the one I found today, and 2. The spine on the bottom of the handle. They are similar, but on my grandmother's it runs the whole length of the handle.

Could both, my grandmother's skillet and the one I bought today, be recasts?

Here is what I bought today:



Hard to see, but there is a raised 8 under the crud on top of the handle.

Recasts are pans made using existing pans as patterns, as opposed to actual patterns, to create sand molds. The quality and finish of the resulting casting is typically far inferior to that of the original pan. The casting technology used for recasts is also typically different from that of the original pan, e.g. bottom gate marks on pans when the original manufacturer used side-gating technology. Absent these characteristics, there is little reason to suspect a pan of being a recast.

The triangular reinforcement pad at the base of the handle would not be characterized as unique to Griswold.

These pans with inset heat ring, small pour spouts, raised size number and molder's mark, and handle reinforcement pad have defied identification and have come to be dubbed SMS: Southern Mystery Skillets.

Thanks, Doug. I think I've found the focus of my collecting. "Southern Mystery Skillets" seems like my kind of category. Ha!

Here are the results from the lye tank, a brief period in the e-tank, lots of scrubbing with the Chore Boy, and one round of seasoning.





I definitely think this one was made at the same time and by the same folks who made my grandmother's skillet. Check out the similarities in the spouts ...

New #8 ...



My grandmother's ...

Spurgeon, I hate to say it, but your "new" no. 8 looks to be better CI than your Grandma's no. 7. Nothing can really replace the inherited items, but I bet she understands it was an accident; and the no. 8 you just rescued seems to have been worth the effort. (Thanks also to Doug for redefining the "Southern mystery skillet". I doubt I'll ever see one in the wild up here in Yankee-land, but I'll keep an eye out.) The many pieces of info. re CI of all kinds is one of the big bennies of this forum. Happy cooking, Spurgeon; and the great recipes (and pictures of same) which folks share keep me looking here eagerly every day!

Thanks Sharon. I never stripped my grandmother's skillet. It probably looks better under all the seasoning.

I was just adding a second round of seasoning to this pan and it dawned on me I should have pointed out something else on the underside of the handle. I'm not sure you can see it in the picture above, but the handle looks like it has been patched ... like somebody took a blob of iron silly putty and pressed it into the handle.

Some might think this makes the pan undesirable. It makes me love it even more. If this is truly a "Southern Mystery Skillet", this handle is the epitome of Southern Ingenuity (some might call it Redneck Engineering). Maybe depression era?