My yearly ebay gamble mystery skillet

J

John E

Member
I waste a lot of time watching ebay, but I rarely bid on anything, and when I do, I never win. Well, almost never. You can see last year's gamble here:

http://www.castironcollector.com/forum/showthread.php?t=879

That one turned out kinda meh, but in the end I ended up with one mighty fine user.

Well, the stars have aligned again, and I've snagged another gunked up, overlooked hunk of iron.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321697033471?orig_cvip=true

I'll take a chance on it just for the entertainment value, like one might play the lottery.

The listing claims it to be a single notch Lodge, but none of the pictures support that. I have my theories, but I'd like to see what others think is hiding under the crud.

Make your guesses!
 
Impatience is getting the best of me...

My money (in this case, both figuratively and literally) is on:

- Late (5th/6th) series ERIE
- Griswold's ERIE
or
- Early slant/ERIE

based on heat ring and handle shape.
 
Well, I know why the pictures didn't support a single notch Lodge - the skillet that showed up is not the same one pictured in the listing. It is however a very nice #7 single notch Lodge with no markings on the bottom and a raised 7 on the handle. I'm going to ask the seller what the deal is, but I expect to just end up keeping it.
 
I imagine the seller thought, "If you've seen one crusty skillet, you've seem them all. Who will know the difference?" :roll:
 
I just received a mystery skillet from the postman that I think is a Ozark Crescent. It arrived with the handle sticking out of the box. Luckily it's not broken. It really is a crap shoot buying off ebay but it's kind of fun when it pays off.
 
Ok, double or nothin'!

I won this - http://www.ebay.com/itm/321710370808?orig_cvip=true

Which you'll note is from the same seller, and the pictures just happen to be of the same #7 that I already received above. The description for this auction matches the pictures from the original auction. I'm fairly sure this is going to get me what I was originally after the first time. I brought all of this to the attention of the seller, but he didn't really seem to understand what I was trying to convey. Maybe a language barrier or something. Or as said above
BenjaminO said:
I imagine the seller thought, "If you've seen one crusty skillet, you've seem them all. Who will know the difference?" :roll:
Click to expand...
Except I don't think there's any ill intent, just someone who doesn't typically deal with CI being unable to discern one crusty skillet from the next.

In the end, it all makes for an interesting story (and a cautionary tale of ebay :p). I'll post pictures of whatever happens to be in the box when it gets here.
 
Bonnie Scott said:
Are you going to take a sneak peak in the lye today?
Click to expand...

Funny you should ask, because I just did. Not looking good :(. The bottom is still caked and I can't identify it yet, but there is some pretty heavy pitting in the bottom center. Worse though, there's a huge crack that was hidden under the crud. It runs from the rim through the sidewall and part of the way across the bottom. So whatever it ends up being, it will at best be a cornbread pan, and more likely a wall hanger.

Still, was a fun gamble!
 
Time to put this one to bed. Here it is after a few weeks in the lye tank:



Not even going to bother to stick it into the etank. It'll live its life in the skillet graveyard in my garage.

I'm pretty sure this was/is a slant/ERIE. The top diameter is 11 3/8" which puts it as a #9, and if you look closely enough I think I can make out a 710D pattern number at the very bottom of the pitting, which is right for a #9 skillet (click to enlarge):



You can also see the crack really well in that shot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top