How to Identify Unmarked Cast Iron & Reference Sources!

Hello guys, ladies, all the stackers, here it is November 25, 2018 and what you are seeing is a representative example of my

cast

iron

collection and the theme of the video is to help you

identify

in the brand of

cast

iron

, some of these are

unmarked

, some of them marked, we have similar models from Wagner and Griswold, for example, side by side, which are marked and

unmarked

and you can see the features that are typical of those manufacturers and when you are out and looking treasures for these things, it could be you. You're at a flea market or you're at an antique mall, something like that and you come across a piece of cast iron.

You're not sure what it is. It would be helpful if you assigned this website. I have provided it to you before. some of my other videos, but I'm going to give them to you again. I'll link it below in the description. It's ww cast iron collector, calm, as simple as that cast iron collector, calm, the website is phenomenal, explains what to look for. when looking for cast iron what is collectible what is not collectible how to restore it how to remove it safely using lie or electrolysis how to season it properly how to maintain and clean it properly and all that kind of stuff it's a phenomenal site just the same the people who run that site also have a pyrex collector calm down because Pyrex is highly collectible in any case, some of these pieces, although not marked, are also collectible and it also depends on the condition they are in cast iron, it is highly sought after and many of the antique stores in which I have been looking for it, I tell them: can you call me when it arrives? and they say, oh, it's going so fast and usually they never call me because when I get there, someone else would.

Buy it, I mean, it's highly sought after, so anyway we're going to go ahead and start with modern frying pans, basically the only thing you can get these days. Well, you can get several companies. I do not have them. because I like the old things that Stargazer has. I believe today it is a cast iron manufacturer. I think it's made in the USA from recycled iron. They cost, I think, a hundred and twenty-five dollars for the number 8 and 160 for the number 10. They're very light, but they're not as heavy as these guys here, But in any case, I'm going to show you a Lodge that is more modern.

This Lodge is an iron and let's go ahead and take a look at the general look of the bottom. It looks like a recessed heat ring. I think it's just design. you don't have the traditional heat ring stoves that they had in the early 1900's, the lodge logo is a recessed logo, they call it a neg logo, you have an egg in the pan right there. Lodge made in the USA, it is a 90g4 iron. It's a pancake griddle, you can fry burgers on it, anything you can do with potato burgers and this one is relatively new.

I think I bought it a year or two ago and sanded it to make it a little smoother. They come with a very rocky surface, they can still be non-stick, but it's better when you don't hear your nails like they're a chalkboard. I removed this one and this one with the an t pro four inch drive that they put on my power drill that I bought. the four inch disc with a quarter inch attachment for my electric grill. I bought it at Home Depot a couple of years ago, but it's an iron anyway and you can tell it's black.

I've used a little more than this guy here. this is the number eight it's a 10 inch skillet you can tell it's upside down but you can see it's made in the USA it's an eight skillet eske means frying pan and if it was a dutch oven you would see an option there for that degree, but anyway, this is a modern hostel. I don't have any antique shelters to show you, but you can see that the pour spouts are not definitive like antique cast iron pans made or hand-forged. This is a modern hostel. you can go to Walmart and buy them, they're cheap, they're like 15-20 bucks somewhere, you can actually buy mine on Amazon.

I think I bought a couple from Amazon when I started prepping, but that's a modern housing, older housing will have notches, they are real. Older housing may have a heat ring that is not recessed, actually the opposite of that, which has no notches, but they are quite rare. I've never seen them, they usually have a notch here a notch here and a notch here at 9 o'clock, 12 o'clock and 3 o'clock some of the above have a notch but that's how you

identify

a lodge, they have notches on the heat rings, no one else does That I know, so now it's Lodge next and the other thing is that with the US, there they require modern cast iron to seal their pans if they are made in USA after 1960, after 1960 if made in USA here is one that is not marked it says Made in USA you know it was made after 1960 well this one actually It's an old Wagner.

We'll come back to that in just a minute, so we're going to move on to an unmarked Wagner and you can see it here. it just says six and a half inch pan with a model number on there and here's the handle with a little bit of a protrusion there and again an H on the handle and this is a Wagner it has a little more definitive pouring spouts this is a marking Wagner, these are number three, as you can see, and this is a marked Wagner, we are from Sydney Ohio and there is a model number 1053.

We are going to turn it face up and you can see that side by side they are identical. Some of the unmarked versions were made for stores like Montgomery Ward Woolworths and some department stores like that in the early and mid 20th century, but you can see that they are pretty much the same pan and, believe it or not, the unmarked ones have the characteristics of the markings have become quite collectible, people sell them on eBay and just say it's a Wagner. I don't know if you should do that but I'm just saying I'm Mark Wagner and then I'm going to describe this pan and Why but there is a difference but because it wasn't made in the USA it was probably made in the 40's and 50 somewhere in there, at the same time it was made, now it also has Griswald Griswald is another name made like Erie PA.

It's a marked pan here, it also has a little shelf on the handle, but the Griswold Wagner one was very similar, some of the differences, although you can see some of that and maybe not as much on this one. I'm going to show you a number 5 that has a circular pattern on the cooking surface, but this is a large Griswold logo, it's a number 3, this is an unmarked Griswold, but it's slightly different because of the handle, the handle identifies it like an Iron Mountain series and if you look on your cast iron manifold, the four digit pin will be in italics at 6 o'clock on the pan and the size of the pan or what corresponds on a stove cooked with the ring heat inserted there, the number three is also in italics, this is an old unmarked Griswold and there it is and you can see the more definitive pour peaks on both.

The one I have for sale. I use this one all the time, so I don't need a ton of pans, but just to show you. the difference between these two and here is an older Griswold, his creepy marking hasn't been done in the US, but they should have erased it, done it somewhere where one only has Erie, it's cruder, it's a number ten, it's a large slanted Griswald logo with a cross in the middle that's standard with them and with the heat ring whenever you see a heat ring like that, it's an older pan and it's meant to correspond with an insert and the old stoves that people used to cook with in the early 1800's so just so you know why they're there and this is number 10 it's 12 inches wide and it's still brown because I've never used it.

I just love it. I will keep it. It is very collectible. It's probably worth it. in the neighborhood of 200+ I just can't bear to part with it, so I'll keep it. It is my favorite. I stripped it completely, but found it in excellent condition, so all the thermal rings will identify them as old. and that is the website. I just printed some notes that I can refer to, but that's the website you want now. Here we have a couple of five. This is a small logo. Griswald. It's a number 5. Erie PA. And why not. let's say made in the USA, it was made before 1960, more likely in the 40's or 50's, it has the standard handle that they use and it has the very definitive pour spouts and here is a Wagner marked next to each other and the spout pourer is its definitive, but not completely. as obvious as the Griswold, but look here at the bottom of the pan, we tried to get in here so you can see it, see the tooling there, the milling that was done.

I see there are more single neurons than any other frying pan out there. Griswold showed you some wear marks on the utensils over the years. They are just because they are in normal use. I mean, you could probably say I ruined it, but then you could ruin some of its collectible value if you do. If I ever want to sell it one day, here is an unmarked Birmingham stove and stove, it's also number five, it's clunky, it lasts five hours, the handle is a little different and it's almost a little smaller than the Griswold, so just because it's a number five, all number 5s are not the same or made the same, they were simply meant to correspond with an insert in the old stoves, but with this one I'll get to the Birmingham stove and stove in a minute.

I just wanted to show you that all 5's are not the same size, so those are some of the things you can look for now. Birmingham stove. There is a Dutch oven next to them. It is not marked. Here's a number 10 and you can see the handle of the pan and this is it. a number 5, you can see the handle on the pan, they have that trademark design, they don't look anything alike. I'll flip them like Wagner or Griswold cookware, but they always have a heat ring inserted in the older Birmingham stove. and the stove, in fact, most of them will be older because I think they stopped making pans, they didn't make them anymore in the 1960s.

This one here I thought was a Birmingham stove and stove. This one here has this handle, some people say. It's like a Griswold but it looks very, very old, I don't know, it looks primitive but it has the heat ring. This is one of the first pans I restored. It's very black, very pretty. The pouring spouts are very light like the. five Birmingham and the 10 Birmingham and very smooth, but there is a raised number on the handle and an old lodge, an old one back in 1902, 1930 or 1908. 1910 sometimes had the raised number on the handle, this one does, so which some people said, oh that's an old lodge and it could be an old lodge just because you have the continuous heat ring and most of these have been destroyed and no longer exist so it could possibly be an old lodge.

I'm told it's a southern mystery. frying pan because it has the heat ring like the stove and Birmingham stove here, but this handle is very unusual, it almost looks like a Wagoner handle on some of the older frying pans, but in any case, this is how you can tell what you are I have and the only note that I want to make in the Dutch oven here the Dutch oven and especially on the lids is a number eight, I think it's a four quarter, but the dimples here are a random irregular pattern and some of the other ones like A the cottage has circles in the middle, they are a circular pattern, these are dimples, so it is definitely a Birmingham Stovetop Dutch Oven.

I think I used it once. I like it, but I haven't used it that much. Like the other pans, I hope I have addressed some of your concerns. If you have any questions, please leave them below in the comments section. Remember if you haven't subscribed to my channel and want to see more stuff like this from time to time. Every once in a while, hit the subscribe button on the little bell next to it so you can get alerts for my videos and give me a thumbs up too if you like videos like this and I'll also link to the calm cast iron collector who is in the description and one more thing before I left, I had forgotten.

I have an example of a Birmingham stove and pan that is actually marked, let's take a look at it. I have never seen one and have bought castings. iron a lot, but this is what a marked pan looks like and I'm going to take an unmarked one, so there it is, there's the pour spout, there's a heat ring, there's the pan, now that one is marked and it's made a a little bit later, probably in the 1950s, this is a little bit earlier. You can see the fountain there and it was about six o'clock, but it was more primitive, so 30 or 40 on this one, but there's the heat ring, there's the well in that picture. it doesn't show it there's the pour spout and this pour spout here the handle the handle looks primitive but or warm maybe just warm there's a handle on this one you can see it there so I wanted to show you that's the only one I had to look for because I've never seen one that's marked, so if you ever find one, I imagine it's highly collectible.

Those videos get long enough. I thank you all for watching and the cast iron is worth continuing to buy. it's out there and when you look at that site it will help you learn to identify it so thanks for looking guys and make it agreat day.