Mystery Piece.

J

JLeshanski

New member
Ok found this little skillet that has me scratching my head. picked it up because it was smaller than a #3 and had some very unusual markings. Markings on it are "U-6" and "pat. 10015". Now the patent dates back to 1853, but I'm dating this sometime after 1890 as the gatemark has been shifted to the side (rather crudely as you can see in the pic) making me think this was done while they were still experimenting with moving the mark to coincide with the lip. Anyone have any ideas on this?
10451300734
10451301284
10451487023


http://www.flickr.com/photos/26536288@N03/10451300734/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26536288@N03/10451301284/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26536288@N03/10451487023/
 
By the overall design-- the shape of the handle, the style of the lettering, and the roughness of the casting-- I would conclude that the "PAT" stands for pattern rather than patent. It actually looks recent enough that I'm surprised there's no "Made In xxx" to denote the country of origin. Absent that, I'd ID this as late 1950s to early 1960s, probably an import.
 
Thanks guys, definitely an interesting piece. Gotten some mixed reviews on it and maybe it really is a pattern number. It's an odd size.. but the iron seems to have a nice quality. Based on what I see I don't think it's asian, but hey I could be very wrong. If it's the case I overpaid, but I can never resist a good mystery.
 
To me a good mystery skillet is "Let's play what's under the carbon crust?" Last time it was a FPW Miami, always a fun and rewarding game.
 
JLeshanski said:
Oh I like under the crust too - last time it was a Diamond logo Favorite.
Click to expand...

I just bought an under the crust mystery, and it turned out to be marked

N-3
JAPAN
PAT 10015

It initially caught my eye because it was unusually light in weight, and the heat ring had three notches in it at 9, 12, and 3 o'clock just like an old Lodge.

It is the size of my #6 Griswold, but weighs 12 oz less.

Looking forward to finding out anything I can about it.
 
Two weeks ago I was at a longtime collectors home and bought some things from him. In a stack of #6 WWSO and unmarked Wagners was a pan that looked and felt exactly like a highly finished unmarked Wagner. Even the typeface was perfect. I realized it had to be Japanese (or possibly Asian) because of a small smooth circle of a molders mark that had tiny, perfectly formed cranes. I think they were cranes at least. Not 100% up on Japanese art.

He had to save one #6 for his nephew and we decided that would be it. Kind of wish I'd have taken that one and left an unmarked Wagner. You know, for the "museum of good Asian knockoffs". Goes with the perfect "Made in Korea" 3 notch "Lodge" and Taiwanese perfect knock off of I'm-forgetting-which that I didn't buy.
 
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