My mother had several cast iron skillets. I remember baking corn bread in a ten inch skillet as young as 9 years old. This was in the early '60's. I know now that her collection (maybe 5 pieces) were in all probability BS&R, as I have her #14 16 inch. I have had several pieces of iron over the years, but what really started my addiction/collecting was a good friend of mine that I worked with for a couple of years building clothing stores in shopping malls. We were in Los Angeles for seven months, and knew every thrift store, goodwill store and flea market in the immediate vicinity. We stopped in at the South Street Thrift Store one afternoon, on the way home, and on the bottom shelf, under a pile of Tupperware, Corning Ware, and other miscellaneous stuff, I saw a piece of dark brown metal. Pulling it out, I was holding a Griswold #712 oval griddle, marked $5. My friend offered me $10 on the spot, before checkout, and he would pay the store for it, also. I still have the griddle, plus several more oval griddles, round griddles, skillets, DO's, a Chicago DFF, spiders, camp ovens, the list goes on. Last week, I picked up a Favorite Piqua Ware Smiley-Face #5 that was at some point painted a robin-egg blue. I rescued it for $5, then identified it for the vendor, that had no clue who made it. It will be my first piece to refurbish when I set up my restoration process, after a five year hiatus. Thanks for letting me expound on one of my favorite subjects.
