Well finished Unmarked Wagner #6

L

LeeJohnson

Member
I recognize that this is outside the generally collected period but I had a question regarding grades of finish on these pans. I understand that they were sold with both Wagner and Griswold stickers on them and am curious.

I have pans with several different levels of finishing. This one appears to be chromed (Ducro?) on top and much smoother on the outside and bottom compared to some other unmarked Wagners of the same vintage I have.

Is there a pdf of a catalog from this period floating around?

http://stormforge.net/gallery/index.php/Well-finished-Unmarked-1960s-Wagner-6

For all I know they are quite common. As I said, I've seen different levels of finishing which I mostly chocked up to cost cutting in the wake of competition. Is anyone familiar with these?

It came with the stack of pans, kettle and giant ladle I got from a somewhat local picker on Friday.
 
That one is just regular bare iron but while they were still finishing the cooking surfaces. The overall appearance is of a pan that hasn't been used much if at all. You sometimes see those stray polishing marks on the tops of the handles near the pan wall; probably just an artifact of the process getting a little out of control of the operator.

You can most observe a decline in quality in the pans of this era. This one, polished and smooth, with distinct markings, quality standards still in place; later ones rough, heavy, with less distinct markings indicative perhaps of pattern wear, automated handling, or just a general lowering of molding standards.
 
Thanks, Doug. Good to know.

The drop-off in quality is remarkable. The pan pictured weighs 3 pounds 1.8 ounces. Two Griswold Small Block Logo #6s that I have, one early handle and one late, both weigh exactly 3 pounds. A Wagner Ware 1056 here weighs 3 pounds 0.4 ounces.

Another unmarked Wagner #6 weighs a whopping 4 pounds 4.4 ounces. It's remarkable that the finishing dropped so much during the run of this pattern. This other one is visibly thicker than the well finished pan. It actually weighs 6 ounces more than a Griswold #8.

Labor costs went up dramatically I know and I'm aware of cost cutting due to increased Asian competition on the low end and European on the high end. That a #6 could increase by more than 1 pound 3 ounces during roughly a decade is pretty incredible. Apparently pig iron and additives were still pretty cheap if the weight increased by 1/3!
 
Increasing the iron to stand up to automation was a negligible cost compared to the labor savings over hand molding and finishing.
 
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