Unknown Cast Iron Any Help Appreciated

[Crystal B.]

Cannot find any info about this piece anywhere. Raised 8 on handle and raised square at 6 o'clock handle side on bottom with inset heat ring.

Hopefully these work. Front and back.

[Dan B]

Hi Crystal,

I'm no expert, but the raised line across the bottom of the pan is a gate mark. This is indicates a very old pan (very possibly pre- 1900) made by a long discontinued manufacturing process. Such 'gate marked' pans are next to impossible to identify the manufacturer, date, etc.

That said, if there is information on this pan, you have come to the right place for it.

Cheers

[SeanD]

Welcome to the Forums....youll love it here. Probably wont ever be able to identify it, but its OLD! Clean it up and use it!

[Mike_M]

Because of the gate mark, it could be homemade. Back then, you could buy a mold and use whatever ore you could dig up and pour it yourself.

[Doug D.]

Smelting elemental iron from iron ore isn't something you can casually do. Since sand molds for cast iron are single-use and are required to be destroyed to release the casting, there wouldn't be any trade in them. The designs of the handle and pour spouts on this piece are consistent with the era in which such castings were normally bottom-gated. It is true that recasts, pans made using other pans as patterns to create molds, are often bottom-gated primarily because it is a simpler methodology than side-gating.