cast iron and porcelain 7 egg poacher

[maggiemae]

Hello to all fellow cast iron lovers!
 
I have been collecting cast iron for about 35 years, and considered myself in possession of some unique and interesting items---until I found this site!
 
My most recent purchase, photos attached, is a 7-egg poacher (I am told) with a porcelain interior.  The only identifying marking is the number "901" stamped on the back.  I would be interested in anything anyone can tell me about it---origin, age, value, etc.  I found it in the Hudson River area of NY state and paid $65 for it.
 
Thanks so much!

[maggiemae]

Reverse side:

[Roger Barfield]

Very nice  piece Maggie.  What is the diameter and how deep are the depressions?  I don't know that I've seen one with the two handles like that before.

[Tom Neitzel]

My impression is that it is a European, maybe Danish, aebleskiver or munk pan.  Looks like a gate mark on one of the cups so maybe late 19th or early 20th century.  Again, just my feeling.

Might have been sold as an escargot pan too.  I've always thought the cups were a bit shallower for escargot, but who knows.

Tom

[maggiemae]

Thanks for your responses.

In my only somewhat-educated opinion, I don't think it is an ebelskiver pan.  I have one of these, my Danish "Nana" cooked ebelskivers in them, and I have never seen one with porcelain.  The antique dealer I bought it from also said it was an egg poacher. :)  If he knew. :)

It is 9 1/4" diameter, depressions are 1" deep.

[Tom Neitzel]

Maggie, the reason I mentioned the 'skiver pan is that I have several from Denmark that are porcelain coated - some black, some chocolate, some speckled.  The maker mark usually is a F over crown.  I really haven't seen the porcelain used much on pans made elsewhere.

I'm not a big poached egg fan so I'm not talking from experience, but I would think if you cracked an egg into one of those cups there wouldn't be much room for any water to poach it in.  Maybe a pigeon egg :-/.

Tom

[maggiemae]

Wow.  If it is actually an ebelskiver pan from Denmark, that would be amazing, as my grandparents immigrated from Copenhagen in the early 1900's.  It would be rather large, if it is that.  It has seen a lot of use, porcelain is gently but evenly cracked throughout.  As an egg poacher, I imagined it set in a skillet of boiling water, thus to poach the eggs.  I have used poachers that set on water, egg poached within the item.  That's kind of cheating, for purists, but they're out there.

Thanks for all the comments---would love something definitive, but thoughts and educated guesses are also greatly appreciated.  :)

[maggiemae]

And what is a "gate mark" and what is "munk" as in "munk pan"?  If you have a minute to explain.  :)  

[Sam Roberts]

Normally prior to 1910 or so the point where the skillet and the injection site met. On skillets normally on the bottom. A Munk is a pastry the same as, or close to a ebelskiver pastry.

[maggiemae]

Thanks.  I have a couple of items with these.  Will have to look at them more closely.

[Tom Neitzel]

And what is a "gate mark" and what is "munk" as in "munk pan"?  If you have a minute to explain.  :)  

That's another name for the aebleskiver or danish apple cake pan (or egg poacher - griswold did call them that).  I beleive munk is a Norwegian word for little cake.

Tom

[maggiemae]

Thanks so much for the info.  Sounds like it is 100 or so years old.

Any thought on value?  I paid $65 for it, down from $75---would have paid the $75 to get it. :)  

[Tom Neitzel]

Could be around 100.   I didn't think to mention earlier that many of these were designed to fit in an open stove eye (that heavy round plate you take out of the top of an old cast iron stove).  I think yours did that.  Here's a picture of one sold by Arthur Andresen & Co, Minneapolis that was made between 1894 and 1903.  It's essentially the same size as yours.

Tom

[maggiemae]

Okay!  That's helpful. :)  And I love to get a good price.  It being made to fit into a stove eye would explain why it would appear to have been made to insert into something---i.e. the handles are higher than the cooking surface.  In thinking about it being an (alleged) egg poacher, why would something like that be made in cast iron but placed into WATER to cook?  Maintaining the cast iron surface would be difficult, IMHO.  

I really don't know much, it is clear, except that I really love cast iron. :)

Thanks for your help.