Any idea on this pot?

CherrieW

New member
I also have a question about identifying my piece. It's older. I'm guessing mid 1800's based on family history. I'm not a collector, I'm just trying to learn more about this single piece and perhaps its value for insurance purposes.

I have photos but am not sure how to submit them.

It is a pot with three short nibs for "feet" and has a handle but no lid. It appears to be the type that might hang from a hook over an open fire indoors or out perhaps holding a gallon or two. The only markings on the bottom are raised 8 E A I'm guessing used in Kentucky region but not certain.

There is mention in written family history that suggests it MAY have been a pot used by family owned slaves and I would love to substantiate that somehow and trace its history better.

It was nasty rusty...and I did a vinegar soak, but eventually ended up using a wire wheel on it and then seasoning it. I don't use it for cooking.
 
If you're able to upload some photos somewhere like a Flickr or Picasa account that you can link to for viewing, that would be best. Attaching a photo to a post is possible here, but with size limitations. Below the post entry window is a tab marked upload attachment.

Shapes of markings and artifacts of casting technology like gate marks often indicate an era of manufacture if not a specific maker. That those markings you mention are raised tends to indicate the timeframe you suppose it to be from. If that old, the likelihood of discerning a who the actual manufacturer was will be unlikely.
 
OK, I will try to figure out how to upload. Any information would be helpful. Even a referral to another source would help. I'll work on figuring out the photo thing and post them later.
 
That works. You have a round bottom footed kettle. The short feet tend to suggest a piece made to be used either on a hearth, in a wood stove eye, or on top of a wood stove. Although bottom gate marks are seen infrequently after the late 1800s, a smaller foundry might have still been using that technology. It doesn't have that pre-Civil War primitive look, so I'd guess 1870s-90s. Based on other similar pots I've seen, this would be a size #8 (hence the numeral), and the E A the initials of the foundry or the foundryman who made it, probably the latter. Skewed letters imply hasty application, and raised letters would have been formed by making an impression in the inside of the sand mold after the pattern was removed. If they were a part of the pattern, one would assume more care would have been taken in their placement.

Appears to be of good quality, and although I wouldn't necessarily try to find an excuse to cook in it, I don't think there's any cause for concern if you did. I'd probably run it through a lye bath and finish up with electrolysis just to be safer. It doesn't look as it sits now that it was used for anything like melting lead or changing the oil on the car.
 
Thank you! I know as a kid it sat on my grandmother's hearth and was just called "the slave pot", and when my uncle had it after her death, he used it as an ash can for cleaning out the fireplace/woodstore...hence, I'm sure why he left it outdoors in the weather and it rusted.

I'll keep digging to see if I can find out more.
 
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