Foreign Made Cast Iron.

JGGregory

New member
Good morning.
I buy the majority of my iron from scrappers. In doing so I pick up several foreign made pieces for every American made collectible piece I get. Most of the foreign made stuff, stuff from Taiwan, Korea or China I quickly clean and flip at the swap meet for cheap. I have come across some Japanese made pieces that appear to have some age to them. Pre WW2 I’m guessing. I’m wondering if there is any collectible value to older foreign made pieces.
 
With the number and caliber of US foundries operating pre-WWII, it would be surprising that there would be any Japanese or other imported Asian CI from that time period to be found (Japan even less likely post-1941). The Taiwan, China and Korea pieces seen are typically quite shoddy compared to the standard of vintage US goods. Conversely, that from Japan typically seen, apparently ca. post-1960 (as are the other Asian imports), is often quite finely-made.
 
Thanks for the info Doug. Yes, the Japanese made stuff does stand out from the others. And you’re right, it’s probably not pre war but, with no country of origin stamp (only a depiction of Mt Fuji with an initial) it may be pre 1960?
Thanks again for your input.
 
By any chance, does the mountain look like this?

There's an interesting story behind this piece. A local guy posted on Facebook that he's starting up his own foundry making cast iron cookware, and one of the things pictured was some cast iron spatulas. I'd never seen a CI spatula before, and asked to buy one. He was busy, but said his wife would meet me in a public parking lot to do the transaction. OK, pretty normal for an online purchase. When I got it home, I saw the mountain. And it's marked China! You can see that if you look closely at the handle. Yup, made locally here in Arizona, all right.... :rolleyes:
thumbnail-7.jpeg
 
Sounds like the seller doesn't know what a foundry is. The making of spatulas from (hopefully) damaged vintage skillets seemed to be a thing online, with some asking premium prices for what is essentially just a cut up skillet. Are we sure the logo isn't meant to be viewed the same direction that CHINA is to be read? Just would seem strange that Chinese put a Japanese mountain on a skillet.
 
Sounds like the seller doesn't know what a foundry is. The making of spatulas from (hopefully) damaged vintage skillets seemed to be a thing online, with some asking premium prices for what is essentially just a cut up skillet. Are we sure the logo isn't meant to be viewed the same direction that CHINA is to be read? Just would seem strange that Chinese put a Japanese mountain on a skillet.
Thank you. The thought that it might be a cut up skillet never occurred to me. I've seen that logo somewhere before, but just can't place it.
 
I found it!! It's Ozark Mountain. They sell Ozark Mountain CI at Walmart. It looks like the spatula probably was made from one of those pans. At least he used a cheap Walmart one, and not something like a Griswold.

Could the Ozark Mountain logo be the picture of Mt. Fuji that the OP mentioned in the first post, or is it something else?
 
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