small skillet, outer heat ring, number + letter on top of ribbed handle

[Lewis Downey]

Any thoughts on the maker, age, and value of this skillet would be appreciated. I have in my head that outer heat rings were not commonly made after 1905 - not sure where I got that idea. I don't recall seeing a skillet handle with a number and a letter. I have not found any manufacturing marks on the bottom.

Many thanks!

[Sandy Glenn]

Judging from the underside of the handle, I would GUESS that to be an unmarked Vollrath.

Hopefully others will chime in. :)

[Lewis Downey]

Thanks Sandy!

Just as your post came in I was about to add the same pictures were posted to castironcollector. A couple of people there thought it was a Vollrath due to the thickness of the heat ring and the fact that rib on the handle reaches almost all the way to the eye. Another person speculated that it is a Piqua due to the handle and the heat ring.

The pics of unmarked Vollraths I have seen have a number in the middle. The pictures of Vollrath handles that I have seen do not show a pattern identifier.  Do you think that the unmarked pieces from Vollrath would vary that much? Patterns were harder to come by 110+ years ago weren't they?  Would a company have more than one pattern for unmarked skillets of the same size?

Do you think the handle was cast separately making a pattern id helpful for finding problem handles? Or do you think the "A" on the handle is a pattern id for the whole piece? The two marks on the top of the handle ought to limit the choices quite a bit - sez me without a way of backing up that theory.

[Lewis Downey]

I went on ebay and found a Vollrath #3

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Vollrath-Cast-Iron-skillet-with-heat-ring-NICE-/151990227232?

I made a screen snap of the handle of the marked Vollrath and the unmarked piece I have.  Maybe the comparison will be useful to the sharp-eyed collectors here.

[Cheryl Watson]

I would agree with Sandy... Vollrath.  :)

[Lewis Downey]

Thanks Cheryl,

I am not disagreeing with Sandy, you, or anyone. I am just trying to make sense of differences between known examples of unmarked Vollraths and my pan. Here is another difference between the Vollrath-branded item on ebay and my pan. Compare the cooking surfaces on the two. My pan is more or less uniform. The other (marked Vollrath) is machined.

Are these sorts of differences just par for the course?  Presumably the Vollrath-branded piece was a higher end product; it probably makes sense that it received extra love from the foundry.

[Janis Berzins]

Looks like Vollrath to me as well. Those two pictures show more similarities than differences in my opinion.

[Mark Zizzi]

If you look at the underside of both handles, they couldn't be more identical. Same font 3 and rounded outside HR too. Volrath..probably an economy grade line they came out with at some point. I would maybe pay 15 bucks for one like that..but it's a big maybe.

[Janis Berzins]

Yea, I would be in at 10.

[Lewis Downey]

Yea, I would be in at 10.

Sold! J/K

Thanks all.