John C. Johnson Co. Birmingham, ALA

Dorothy Taylor

New member
Just bought the lid to what obviously went to a set. Looked it up and found a patent filed November 29, 1933.
It is John C. Johnson Co. of Birmingham, Alabama.
It seems it was a 3 piece set, with the lid/skillet, then 2 more pans/pots, similar to a double boiler.
Is anyone familiar with this iron and if so, how difficult is it to find the other two pots?
Not really worried about the value as I'm not really a collector, but a user. Cast Iron is all I cook in....
BTW - paid $10 for the lid and it's in pretty good shape.
 
Combo cooker is the term for these sets. There was more than one maker, so not all parts found are going to fit, at least not properly. I see stray parts of them with some frequency, so finding the other two pieces may not turn out to be all that difficult. Dealers tend to not know much about them, so I would expect completing the set may not be too expensive, either.

There is a photo of a full JCJ set in this thread: http://www.castironcollector.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3993
 
I inherited the lid and second piece from my grandmother. From what I've seen the larger base piece is by far the least common. My GM put a seasoning on them that looks like a beautiful black mirror. Hope yours look the same soon!
 
Thank you for the insights. I'll post some pics when I get it cleaned up.
Only problem is that now, I now HAVE to find the other 2 pieces! Is the same writing on the bottom of the two pots that is on my lid?
Since CI is all I cook in, I can SO see this being used as a sort of double stack CI "Crock Pot"!
 
The other two piece are not marked the same way. Referring to the photos in the post linked should help ID the characteristics of the parts you need. Basically, loop handles, no pour spouts and no positioning tabs/notches.

My guess as to why the bottom pot might be less frequently found is it makes for an acceptable flower pot.
 
My guess as to why the bottom pot might be less frequently found is it makes for an acceptable flower pot.


That's a great hypothesis! Since there were obviously equal numbers of all three pieces produced. Any idea when they stopped making the combo cooker and is that the only JCJ product they made?


Thanks for all your help!
 
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