ID help - pre-Griswold muffin pan?

SpurgeonH

Active member
I saw this in a store on Friday. The tag says "pre-Griswold". I looked through the listing of Griswold gem pans. I can't tell. It has a number on it, but I'm not sure if it says "No 01" or "10 ON" or "No 07" or "LO ON". I'm assuming the "B" is a pattern number? Also, $40 seems kind of high?

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B is the style. Wagner used letters to designate most of its gem pans, and that which correlates to a #10 is their B pan. Doesn't necessarily make this Wagner, though. Not Griswold, either. And, although you'd be wasting your breath on the seller, there is no "pre-Griswold" anything; even Selden & Griswold was technically Griswold. The No. 10 on the handle is backwards b/c either the pattern maker or perhaps foundry mold maker applying the marking couldn't think in reverse.
 
I have a popover pan with the same marks--I've always assumed it was Wagner because of the upper case B on it. My pan has been altered though, and I've kept it mainly for this reason: 2 cups have been removed from one end, making it a 9 cup pan. The grinding marks where the end cups and handle were removed are very nicely finished. My thought about this pan is that someone had a really bad day, dropped the pan and broke the end piece or a cup. Ma is crying, so Pa says, I'll fix that. Out to the machine shop he goes, and finish grinds the damaged places so the pan is still usable. The other scenario I've imagined is a lady whose favorite popover recipe just won't stretch to nine cups, or perhaps she is cooking for a small family. Again, out to the machine shop it goes, and now we have a very nice 9 cup pan. I don't think either idea is too much of a stretch. My Ohio farmer uncles all had well appointed machine shops on the premises; they repaired implements and made tools they needed. I won't part with the silly gem pan for any reason; I am cooking for 2, and the 9 cup pan is just the right size for us. And I truly think it tells a tale of American ingenuity!
 
Thanks, Spurgeon. I really should have reread that post one more time before I sent it off--the recipe doesn't stretch to 11 cups is what I should have written. :oops:
 
Heh, I have one of these also with the "B". I bought it because I had IDed it as a Griswold #10, variation 6 (drawing only, without a "B") from the yellow book. However, now I think the Wagner "B" is probably more likely. One monkey wrench in the works though is that neither of the "B" pans shown in either the red book or the blue book look quite like this one. :icon_scratchchin:
 
Heh, I have one of these also with the "B". I bought it because I had IDed it as a Griswold #10, variation 6 (drawing only, without a "B") from the yellow book. However, now I think the Wagner "B" is probably more likely. One monkey wrench in the works though is that neither of the "B" pans shown in either the red book or the blue book look quite like this one. :icon_scratchchin:

I think it is probably Gris. Too close to the Var 6 you mention. Potentially a copy? Probably would need to handle to tell if it is/isn't Gris for sure.
 
No real reason to think it's Griswold; not sure how handling it would prove anything either way.
 
No real reason to think it's Griswold; not sure how handling it would prove anything either way.

Wouldn't prove anything, but quality of finish, thickness of casting, and size measurements would give clues at least. And I would suggest that the raised "NO 01", which is consistent with an accepted Griswold pan, and, being an error, less likely to be found on another manufacturer's pan, is at least some reason to think it's Griswold. If another manufacturer made the exact same style of pan, with the exact same raised lettering, with the exact same error, and only added a "B" to a cup, without using the original Gris as a pattern, I would be surprised to say the least.
 
I think you're making inferences that aren't really there, and perhaps the YB is, too. This style of muffin/popover pan was perhaps the most widely copied design in an era where there were literally hundreds of small foundries putting out reasonably good quality castings. The YB calling the pan with the backwards 10 a Griswold variation is perhaps the biggest stretch of all the variations shown, as the pattern design doesn't really have much in common with variations preceding and following it which have definite Griswold markings (either Erie or a p/n). The addition of the B would strongly suggest a copycat emulating Wagner's designation, as Wagner does not appear to have ever used the #10 in connection with this design. I think the most we can say of this pan is that it might be a copy of the pan shown in the YB as variation 6, with no real substantiation of being Griswold, and of which there is no photograph to compare if the 10 has a slanted 1 or not.
 
Haha! Good point. But I think what the seller was trying to say (probably to justify his $45 selling price) was this was a Griswold pan which was made by Griswold before they started putting their name on their pans.
 
I think you're making inferences that aren't really there, and perhaps the YB is, too. This style of muffin/popover pan was perhaps the most widely copied design in an era where there were literally hundreds of small foundries putting out reasonably good quality castings. The YB calling the pan with the backwards 10 a Griswold variation is perhaps the biggest stretch of all the variations shown, as the pattern design doesn't really have much in common with variations preceding and following it which have definite Griswold markings (either Erie or a p/n). The addition of the B would strongly suggest a copycat emulating Wagner's designation, as Wagner does not appear to have ever used the #10 in connection with this design. I think the most we can say of this pan is that it might be a copy of the pan shown in the YB as variation 6, with no real substantiation of being Griswold, and of which there is no photograph to compare if the 10 has a slanted 1 or not.

Actually on this I agree. My point was based on acceptance of the YB assertion that that pan actually is Griswold. If you discount that pan as Gris then the rest goes out the window and I agree with you. Nevertheless, at half the asking price I'd be tempted to buy this pan, if in good condition. Would probably try to get seller down to $15-18. Good luck with that, though.
 
Yeah, mine was marked $14.95 at a flea market. I thought I was benefitting from an uninformed seller, but turns out it was I, even armed with YB, who was uninformed... I do actually use my muffin pans, so all is well.
 
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