"ERIE" #10 "Work of Art"!

[babyface]

Yesterday I acquired a very early "ERIE" #10 skillet, at a flea market, for the sum of $15. It exhibits very thin walled, smooth, lightweight construction (substantially lighter than a slant/E Griswold #9 that I acquired at the same venue). It has the handle pad and reinforced rim. There is no p/n. Pan is in great shape with no warpage or hairlines. My quandry is that in 1982, someone painted the most striking and exquisite winter pastoral scene on the back of it (signed and dated). Done with oil paint, this scene is truly a "work of art", and would look great hanging on anyone's wall.
I bought this pan with the intent of getting some paint remover and going to work on it. Once my wife saw it she said it'd be a shame to ruin such artistry. I have to admit that, to some extent, I agree with her.
Was wondering what forum members opinions might be regarding this situation. Should the pan be brought back to its original appearance or left alone? It's probably worth $50 to $75 if original, but dont know what it's worth as a cast iron "frame and canvas" that hosts a really nice painting. Thanks, in advance, for your input. Best regards.

[Troy_Hockensmith]

I'd say if you like it, leave it alone. If you bought it for the purpose of resale, I don't think it adds to the collectable value and you might do better by stripping it.

[Steve_Stephens]

I'd say keep the art.  You can always find another ERIE 10 to use.  I wonder if that pan got cracked and was used for a canvas.  Would love to see a photo of your pan.
Steve

[babyface]

Troy! You're right. The choice is ultimately mine, but I bought the pan with the intention of stripping it to restore it to its former "glory". Now I have 2nd thoughts; as it had to take the artist many, many hours to oil paint this scene on the back of it and...it really looks good (wife said this is the only pan I have that she actually likes).
Steve! I looked at this pan in the bright sunlight before I bought it and it shows absolutely no signs of hairline crack(s). Bottom shows ever-so-slight downward curvature, but not enough to keep it from sitting flat on the heat ring. I'd love to post pictures but dont know how. Forum browser allows 250 bites max; and my camera posts to between 340-360 bites. I dont know how to downsize. However this would make a striking picture.
Thanks for the replies. Best regards to all.

[Troy_Hockensmith]

Note to self, If momma is not happy, no one is happy. I suggest you keep it painted. LOL.

[Monica Amparo]

If you can figure out how to post a picture on the WAGS web site, it would be a neat photo for the home page -- maybe one photo showing the front side of the skillet; and the other, the back side...

I'm a newbie at cast iron so can't speak to it's collectible value and whether to strip the picture or not,  but I'm always one to patronize the arts ...and you have a rather unique art form here, I would say.

[Ed Allspaugh]

I have a China skillet that I bought at an estate sale done by a local artist that passed away. It has Tulips around a stump with some fancy border work, looks nice. She mainly painted pics on hand saws and circular saw blades of all sizes. They had blades from saw mills 4' to 6' in dia I'd guess, with paintings on them, they were beautiful. Went for big bucks. We also bought a hand saw with a landscape seen with a Mail Pouch barn painted on it. It was the nicest of them all,and there were many. She had stacks of saws and blades waiting to be painted and just started doing skillets, so there were a few marked skillets there. I'd leave the skillet for now Don, you can always strip it later,if you get tired of the pic. As you said  someone put some serious time in it. Would these kinda things be considered folk art? That stuff brings big bucks itself.

[babyface]

It appears that collectively, forum opinion is to leave the art work as is. Thus be it. The picture stays on the pan. Actually I'm surprised that the artist used a marked skillet, instead of a no-namer, to display his talent. Of course very early "ERIE" 10's, being big and not heavily marked, probably influenced his decision to go for it. May not have done it on a Griswold, with its substantially more marked bottom; which would influence the overall picture quality. This was done in 1982, and it can be assumed that an early ERIE skillet was not considered to have much intrinsic value back then.
Anyway, thanks everyone for the input on this rather unique topic. Best regards to all.

[lrac]

Donald,
I use a free program called EASY THUMBNAILS for resizing pics for Ebay. I have used the program for over 2 years with no problems at all.

It is as the name implies very easy to use.

You can download it for free at  http://fookes.com

Hope this helps.

Carl Watkins

P.S. I would love to see the skillet myself

[babyface]

Hi Carl: Thanks for the heads up. The fact of the matter is that I dont have any problems posting pictures on ebay. Browser just transfers them from my screen to the ebay site. When I try to post pictures on the WAGS forum, I am informed they consist of too many bytes and need to be downsized. That I just dont know how to do. It's truly a shame as I've posted many interesting topics (to me at least) on the forum, and the quality of these posts would be greatly enhanced with pictures. The ERIE 10 picture is really very colorful and eye-catching. Even the outer bowl wall is decorated with fancy artwork. Anyway, thank you for your helpful link. Best regards to all.

[moosejaw]

Donald,

If you will email me your pic, I'll downsize and post it for you.

[babyface]

Marty: Thanks very much for the kind offer to resize pictures of the painted ERIE 10. I will take some closeup shots and get these pictures out to you a.s.a.p. Hopefully they will come out O.K.  Thanks, again and best regards.

[moosejaw]

Donald's work of art Pic 1

[moosejaw]

Pic 2

[babyface]

Marty: Thank you so much for the time and effort you took to downsize and post these pictures. I think the pan represents a nice touch of folk art, and am happy with my decision to leave it "as is". Aside from a few areas needing touch-up, caused; I think; by the dealer I bought it from...no art conesour to say the least, the picture has held up well. I hope the forum enjoys it. Best regards to all.

[moosejaw]

I agree.....it is a nice piece of folk art. You can always get another pan.  It reminds me of the craze when people were painting old saws.  Who knows....this may be worth quite a bit of money down the road.  

[Will Person]

Hey guys,  how do you like my new "work of art"   Can't wait to get it!!!


Will 8-)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6218010565&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1

[babyface]

Will: That's a really great looking long griddle. It'd look outstanding as a wall decoration in either a country kitchen or cast iron collection setting. Do you plan to leave it "as is" or strip and redo it? Interesting that you paid the same amount for your acquisition as I paid for mine. Hardly seems that it was worthwhile for the original artists to take the time and trouble to apply such "artwork" to their respective cast iron canvases. Although not an intended purpose for CI cookware, this folk art makes for a unique and interesting category within the collecting field. Anyone out there got a Griswold 13 cast iron canvas pan, adorned with a nice picture, that theyd like to sell for $15.00???? E-mail me a.s.a.p.!!!! Best regards to all.

[miniwoodworker]

Thanks Donald and Marty. I enjoyed seeing it.

Agree with others to leave it as is.  :) The painting is now a part of the history (can't spell provonance) of the pan. Wish I could paint like that.

Lee