Help with ID?

JH Jones

New member
Hi, my mother recently gave me her chicken fryer and lid, which was her mother's before her. I was hoping y'all could help me ID them. Not that it matters, they're staying with me forever, but I'm definitely curious.

The fryer has a 3-notch ring and no markings other than the 8. Based on the helpful info on this site, I'm guessing it might be a Lodge fryer from the 1940s. I had assumed the lid was original to it, but now I'm pretty dang sure it isn't, because it is clearly marked 1037 A, which is apparently a Griswold marking.

I'm attaching photos of both. Can you help identify and date these pieces? Thanks!

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Thanks for your help!

My grandmother is still around, but she has no recollection of when or where she would have gotten these pieces.

Of particular interest to me are the scratches on the cooking surface. Looks like someone gouged the heck out of the pan cutting cornbread, but it definitely wasn't my mother or grandmother, they both cut bread in a grid instead of wedges. Either the pan was already in that condition when she got it, or a well-meaning relative did it.

Doesn't affect performance any. It cooks great.
 
The lid looks like it has some fire damage. You should ask your grandmother how they used to clean them. My mom has a 12 cup Turks head pan. She says she has memories from when she was a little girl of her mom baking muffins in it. She also remembers her father occasionally cleans their cast iron by putting them in a fire and burning off the built up grease. (Which is probably why the pan has a few cracks between the cups!)
 
Yeah, the lid definitely has a mottled red color which I interpreted as heat damage. I'm not worried about it, to be honest.

None of her other cast iron has that kind of damage, so I'd wager it was that way when she got it.

Maybe her husband had the actual dutch oven the lid went with. I know he did some campfire cooking a long time ago, it's possible the dutch oven was damaged or lost and she hijacked the lid for her kitchen.

Pure conjecture, of course; she wouldn't remember anything like that. She thought it was weird that I was asking her when and where she got them.
 
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