Don't Show, Just Tell

1-First piece:A set of 3 Asian pans. Decent pans. Early 90's or late 80's.
2-Use and collect.
3-Mom gave me her #3 Griswold.
4-BSR Red Mountain #9 with the 9 underlined.
5-Griswald #3 and Mother in laws unmarked Wagner #8 chicken fryer with the lid.
6-The bottom for a griswod 80c hinged combo cooker (no pour) spouts to match my top.
7-My wife thinks I'm nutsand my daughter in law loves it since she'll inherit them. She likes cooking with cast iron too.
 
1. Wagner 1891 Skillet
2. I collect and use.
3. Wapak #9 Z logo Skillet
4. Griswold #3 and #8, heat rings.
5. Wapak #14
6. Griswold #13 with lid.
 
1. What is the first piece of cast iron cookware you actually owned?

#11 Slant logo Griswold I rescued from my Dad’s barn. it was my daily driver for nearly 20 years before i even realized there was such a thing as collectible.

2. Do you consider yourself more a collector, a user, or both?

Both. I pretty much only cook in cast iron and I cook allot. and since I was bit by the “Bug” in November 2024 I’m up to about 150 or so skillets.

3. What is the first piece you acquired with an eye toward collecting?

#9 Wapak Indian head I stumbled across on local Craigslist for $75.


4. What is the first truly collectible piece you acquired?

The #11 Slant logo Griswold in question #1

5. If you were forced to give up your collection except for one piece, what would that piece be?

The #9 Wapak indian head

6. Knowing it's hard to name a single favorite, name up to three CI items, rare or not on your “holy grail” or “bucket list”

Erie Spider #8, Griswold Erie #8 and BSR Red Mountain #4

7. What do your friends and family think of your obsession?

My Brother got me started by sending me a youtube video on cleaning by electrolysis. I remembered I rescued a box of 6 skillets and 2 waffle irons from a shed at my daughters about 10 years ago that were still sitting in my garage. (she was going to throw them away - all turned out to be Griswolds)😀. My Significant other thinks I need an intervention
 
1 A great-grandmother's skillet (Good Health #8 658)
2 A user, mainly. Also a Scoutmaster constantly encountering cast iron dutch ovens, griddles, etc., that need restoring and care.
3 See answer to 1
4 See answer to 1
5 See answer to 1
6 Not (yet) in it to collect consciously, so I have no real bucket list. But I will rescue a CI piece from defunct troops and add it the troop's assortment.

My grandmother gave me a number of pieces of CI. The Good Health #8 658 has been used by several generations now. My gr-grandmother had a small shop where she cooked back in Sunbury, PA about a century ago. Most of the pieces were hers, then got passed down. Some I am still trying to identify, most are heavily encrusted and in the process of a looong lye bath. I've identified a tiny #3 Lodge from the '50's that's great for a single hamburger or egg. I've got one unmarked piece that is truly solid and has a high-pitched "ding" when struck. Also a #5 similar to the picture in the Unmarked Iron page. Now my boys, as they are growing, in Scouts, and cooking for themselves more often are using items their 2nd-gr-grandmother used up to a century ago.
 
1. What is the first piece of cast iron cookware you actually owned?
A skillet I acquired over 40 years ago that has been lost
2. Do you consider yourself more a collector, a user, or both?
I was a user, until a friend infected me with the collector bug lol.
3. What is the first piece you acquired with an eye toward collecting?
It is a Taiwan 6 inch skillet. The friend who infected me had never seen one like it in over 50 years of collecting.
4. What is the first truly collectible piece you acquired?
A BSR (I think) cornbread pan.
5. If you were forced to give up your collection except for one piece, what would that piece be?
A dutch oven, so I can still cook. ;-) It's a 1920s Griswold with lid and trivet.
6. Knowing it's hard to name a single favorite, name up to three CI items, rare or not, on your "holy grail" or "bucket list".
I'm not sure. I have to go through what my friend left me in his will in order to build a "bucket list".
 
1. Early BSR #3 skillet that I’m fairly sure I got for free as a teenager cleaning out a customer’s barn.
2. Definitely both. Grew up around my parents and grandparents cooking with cast iron and I cook mostly with it today. With that said, definitely been nerding out here recently with history and enjoying the hunt for the next piece!
3. Crusty no. 8 Griswold skillet with large block logo. Fellow collector let me have it for $25 and it cleaned up beautifully!
4. Complete Stover 8 waffle iron in great shape for $60.
5. 50s BSR no. 8 bean pot with lid that my grandmother left me. Sentimental value and I cook in it all the time.
6. Oof….. top of the list would be an Erie spider logo skillet. Griswold bean pot with hammer finish. Wapak no. 7 skillet.
 
Last to the game but interesting questions.

1. My first piece from college days (early 1970s) was a Wagner #8 DO 1268. Unfortunately it's a spinner so it's been retired.
2. I'm definitely both as Ive acquired over 500 pieces in the last 15 or so years. I have 11 heavy copper pans hanging over the stove area all with cast iron handles that I cook with daily but also keep 5 skillets (a Wapak #5 for frying corn tortillas) plus Eire #8, 9, 11, and 12 skillets, a Wagner #9 handled griddle and a gate marked #9 bailed griddle, a #3 Arc/Block Wagner Oval DO, a #7 Griswold LBL DO, a #9 Wagner Round Roaster, and a Wapak Chicken Fryer in the kitchen cabinets. I cook a lot.
3. I'll go with my grandfather's Griswold LBL #3 my brother gave me (he's been collecting for at least 30 years) and my Grandmother's aluminum Wagner #2 Custard Bowls.
4. I haven't cataloged the dates of my finds/purchases but maybe the Griswold LBL Ham Boiler or a Griswold SBL hammered hinged double skillet #2009 and 2098 (lid).
5. Easy, an Eire #11 skillet. Use it all the time.
6. The Griswold Spider I saw in the 1990s before I collected in an antique barn store in west Albuquerque NM that they wanted an absurd $200 for (ouch), a Griswold or Wagner #13 skillet with heat ring or any Sidney Hollow Ware Script skillets.
7. Sarcastically my wife says oh great, another #7 skillet, cant have too many of those.
 
I enjoyed reading your "Don't show, just tell". Interesting. I always enjoy reading these.. it sounds like you have quite a collection. Thanks for sharing.
 
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