Estate Sale Find?

[Pat H]

Can someone help me out on a couple of Wagner Ware items I found at an estate sale. I found two Chrome Ashtrays and a Chrome Kettle (without a bail) and a Cast Iron Ashtray and a Cast Iron Kettle (with a brass bail)

With the exception of the Cast Iron Ashtray and one of the Chrome Ashtrays, the Wagner Ware Logo and Pattern Numbers are very indistinct.

Is this common on these items that you can hardly read the logos and pattern numbers.

I think the ashtrays (at least the cast iron one) is pretty common - what about the other items? Do they have any value?

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[Doug D.]

Even though plated, all the chromed pieces appear to be knock offs, with perhaps the exception of the one ashtray with the distinct markings. The bare iron ashtray appears to be an original, but neither toy kettle is of the same design as known genuine Wagners.

I wonder if both chromed ashtrays are the exact same dimensions. On the one hand, the poorly marked one could be a recast, and should be slightly smaller, or, alternatively, was made as an unmarked piece and what we are seeing on it are ghost marks.

What's maybe even more perplexing is that reproductions are rarely if ever seen plated, as it involves polishing first, and then plating. I would hate to think Wagner's standards fell low enough to produce such poorly marked pieces, let alone chrome them. The other possibility is that an owner at some point had them plated.

 

[Pat H]

On both the Cast Iron Kettle and the Chrome Kettle there are pattern numbers....1051. I looked these pattern numbers up in my Cast Iron Reference Book under Wagner and they indicate 1051 is part of a Smokers Set - Kettle, Cigarette Holder. There is one picture in the reference book and it look exactly like the Kettle - it is shown in cast iron (so they are not toy kettles - they are smoker kettles?)

The Chrome Ashtrays are exactly the same size and dimensions. I cannot find any of the Chrome pieces in my reference book, but the pattern numbers match.

 

[Doug D.]

Yes, I do see the bailed kettle ashtray in the red book. The dating puts them in the 1960s, which the logo style also bears out, so perhaps the casting quality was of less importance, at least on these types of pieces. The skillet ashtrays were also done in speckled color on black enamel.