My First Erie (and more)

After a total bust yesterday, I got up at 5 am and headed 40 miles to a flea market that I heard about. Another bust. Then I drove another 40 miles or so to another flea market. I was almost to the end, when from a distance, I noticed to skillets on a blanket amid a bunch of other stuff. Immediately, I noticed the thinner walls on one, and the squared off shoulder. Flipped it over, and at first all I could see besides the heat ring was the size (8). Then I turned it just right so the light glanced off the built up carbon and I thought I saw... yes... I did see... the word, ERIE! Price tag: $15!

Got impatient and took it out of the lye bath early for photographs.
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Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of pitting over the name
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Typical Griswold quality!
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I didn't find out about that flea market until last night... she said that she had sold a bunch more yesterday! But somebody told her that the ERIE pan wasn't worth as much as the Griswolds. I didn't change her mind.

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Other finds of the day...

#7 Slant Block Logo griddle
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More recent #8 Slant Block griddle (I think that is correct, is it not?)
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And my 2nd of these (same mould#)
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Got all four for $45, already cleaned. (actually, I'd prefer to clean them myself)
 
Wow, you did good. Folks around here would have wanted $45 each or more.

I would have told the seller of the Erie that she heard correct, not as popular as Griswold and offered $10.
 
WOW, great finds!!!
Thanks, although I would really only classify the ERIE as a "find". The others came from another collector/dealer. He just gave me a quantity discount. I am REALLY glad though that the ERIE wasn't through a regular dealer. It was just a man and woman that were cleaning out years of "stuff" accumulation.

She told me that she has a box of other cast iron at home somewhere. I asked if they were Wagners, and she pointed at the ERIE and said, "no, I think they were mostly like that one". *cough!*

I tried and tried to get her to give me her address and phone# and let me come down and take a look (they live a good ways away from here), but for some reason, I guess she didn't want to be bothered with that. She did, however, take my phone number.
 
Very nice.


I near choked when I pulled a dutch out of the lye tank and seen ERIE written across the bottom. Then I choked some more after seasoning it and realized it's cracked from the lip to the bottom. The lid is in beautiful shape, not sure what to do with it.
 
I know where there's a cracked Erie DO lid. :biggrin:

A match made in heaven!

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Just wanted to let you all know that I just turned the 500F oven off for the night. I know you'll all sleep better knowing that.

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Can I get some help with this one? I haven't been able to confidently date it (I sound like a high schooler when I say that!).

It LOOKS unused. The underside is so clean that I find it hard to believe it has seen even a gas stove, much less coal or wood. But the RB shows it on page 141 and dates it as c1909. Yet, I see it in the BB on page 55 as the last piece of CI produced by Griswold in Erie (awesome piece! I wonder who owns that, and what it cost them!) dated, of course, 1957.

I'm very much leaning toward the more recent dates, base on condition. Either that, or it is an old piece that saw almost no use.

---------- Post added at 09:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:06 PM ----------

Hold the horses! The one on page 141 of the RB dated 1909 has a different handle!
 
Does not the slant logo tell you?

No books,
Hilditch
Nope. Not necessarily. I can't seem to find it right now, and I could be all wet, but I think I read that Griswold tried to revive the slant logo in its last days. (Doesn't say anything about that in "Evolution of the Griswold Trademark", though, so perhaps I'm imagining it)

That purported "last piece" in the BB is exactly this skillet, with the exception of the initials of the last remaining Griswold employees stamped into it.
 
Finished seasoning the Erie last night.

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That is a really nice griddle. I am envious. I agree with you, it does look like the 1957 griddle.
I find it odd that the underside is the rough sandcasting texture, too.

Picture from the Blue Book for those that don't have it handy:

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Thanks for the pic. That rough casting is strange. One might wonder if there is more than one last one out there. I guess you will just have to put yours on eBay as the Second to Last item cast.

Hilditch
 
The pic from the BB is suspicious: Rough casting and duplication. JY is on there about 10 times. ??????? Strong odor.

Hilditch

(Does anyone have a late model without the slant logo?)
 
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The pic from the BB is suspicious: Rough casting and duplication. JY is on there about 10 times. ??????? Strong odor.

Hilditch

(Does anyone have a late model without the slant logo?)

Uh, I don't think I'd have the bravado to question the BB authors with anything less than absolute proof. They pretty much ARE the authority, and I'm sure that before making any such wild claim as "possibly last production piece" they would have done a lot of checking.

---------- Post added at 03:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:28 PM ----------

Now that is what I call Eye Candy. I like that slant logo #7 griddle c. 1906 -1912

Nice job.:icon_thumbsup:

Thanks, Jeffrey! That's good to hear.

---------- Post added at 03:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:29 PM ----------

Found a duplicate of that #8 griddle on eBay. The seller claims, "exact age is unknown, circa 1920's."
 
Raised letters after the fact (e.g. not on the pattern) are produced by stamping into the surface of the sand on the interior of the mold cavity. So more than one iteration of the same initials in this case would be plausible. The roughness of the casting on the bottoms of pieces like this are due to 1.) no need that they be polish ground, and 2.) the obstruction to polishing by physical characteristics like reinforcement bars.
 
I prefer inquiry over bravado to establish the truth even if the world was once flat according to the authorities. Granted, the bars and initials would hamper polishing but the texture does not appear to be consistent with Griswold CI. Duplication error - OK. It's just that 10 times is a little much for me to swallow.

Hilditch
 
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