Lessons Learned from the Field...super Long-be Forewarned

One thing's for sure about collecting CI, you're going to win some and you're going to lose some. After learning some lessons the hard way, hopefully you begin to lose much less than you win. Here are some lessons learned from the my hunting the last two weeks.

Last Saturday, we were on vacation and spent Saturday hitting some yard sales near the beach. One was a 93 year old woman who was still sharp as a tack, but getting ready to move inland to be with her daughter. I didn't see any CI, but thought to ask and she did tell me she had some newer pieces that she would go get. I started to tell her not to bother but she was gone quickly and came back out with a Le Creuset teak handled skillet and a Le Creuset 22 CM teak handled spouted sauce pan in blue-which happens to match my other LC stuff. She said she would take $30 for both, but I didn't want the skillet-even if it was "worth it" according to ebay. I see no use for it that my black iron stuff won't do. I did get the spouted sauce pan for $15 which I thought to be a good deal based on what a similar piece sells for new and I don't think the wooden handles will hurt because I don't see myself ever putting it in the oven. Lesson Learned: ALWAYS ASK FOR CI!!!

Now for the "you lose some" part. I have a fairly small collection of Gris stuff-a slant waffle iron, a Slant/Erie #8 unmarked handle, a LBL #5, a LBL #6, and a small block #9 griddle. You would think if this is all I had, the odds of finding a duplicate would be miniscule. First pan I saw this morning was a LBL #5 just like the one I already have. I checked for cracks, paid $15 and went on. Five minutes later, I see the big spouts of a #8 and had to flip it over. What do I find? You guessed it...a Slant/Erie unmarked handle. What are the odds?!?!?! I checked for cracks, tried to talk him down but he wouldn't budge so I gave him the full $25 and went on thinking at least this pan didn't have the Sulphur spotting my other one had. Not much other action out there today-I passed up a WWSO smooth 8 and now have regrets about passing on a #7 outside heat ring that I now believe to be a Vollrath. I felt pretty good about the Griswolds until I got home and put them on a flat surface and found wobble in both-the first Griswold's I've ever seen that were warped. I still think I can sell them on Craig's list or ebay and get my money back plus a bit since most people around here think Griswolds were made of gold and not iron, but knowing what I now know and since I have flat duplicates already, I wish I had left them for someone else who didn't already have the same pan and just gotten the Vollrath instead.

Lesson leared today...TAKE A STRAIGHTEDGE WITH YOU WHEN HUNTING!!! The sad thing was I had a plastic speed square in the car which would've revealed both wobbles immediately.
 
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