Buying vintage cast iron is a game, a task perhaps better suited for a private investigator than a collector — where the seeker must be able to pair dates to logos, maker’s marks, handle shapes or other such seemingly minute details to evaluate rarity and value.
In the yard sale or flea market environment, this must be done at once, because there are others out there with their handy blue, grey and red books. But on eBay, you can take a moment to come to your senses, and allow yourself to fall hard for the prestige of a skillet this rare. Here are five reasons a $2,800 skillet is the best thing you’ll buy all year.
It’s a Griswold.
For the uninitiated, Griswold is king and court in the vintage skillet world. It’s important to get a grasp of this. It was as dominant a force in the industry in its time (1865-1957) as Lodge is today. Today, skillets that carry its name are lauded for their craftsmanship and attention to detail (more on this later).
It’s exceptionally rare.
This skillet was manufactured between 1924 and 1939. Griswold updated the trademark stamp on the stove side of its skillets many times, and that it changed the font of its name from italics to block lettering in 1920; some of the skillets with this block lettering received more incisions — “Cast Iron Skillet,” “Erie PA, U.S.A,” and the number at the hilt. We also know that it didn’t make skillets this large (13″) with a heat ring until 1924, and the block lettering was reverted back to italics around 1939. All together, this skillet is old, has more identification points than any Griswold ever made and, due to the decline of wood stoves at the time, was not manufactured all that often. So, there’s that.
