I am going by what Ej told me about it .... I assume he is going by the spruce marks or something ..
Perry, looking at the first picture, it looks like two round gate marks, one at about 7:00 the other at about 1:00. I also think it has been cleaned and seasoned so any old patina would be gone.
I go nuts when I see this sprue terminology. [smiley=yikes.gif]
There are round gates and linear gates. The sprue is the channel that carrier the metal to the gate. It's long gone. I suppose that little bitty stub could be called a sprue, but normally there is just the mark left at the gate.
There is also the assumption that a round gate indicates great age. It might, but it is kind of like saying that if there is a gate mark, it was made prior to 1880 or 1890. We know that's not true.
I know I'll never get the use of terms changed, but I can try ::)
I would expect to see some wear on the points that the pan sits on when baking. I've attached a picture of an older (like WW1 vintage) European stag (Elk in the US) cake pan. It is porcelain on the outside (I've seen it's non-porcelain twin at Larry O's). It also shows a handle shape I would expect to see on an older pan. You see it is not perfect. It has been used and shows evidence of wear. The closer picture with my finger shows a spot where the porcelain has chipped off and the iron has been polished from wear. That's the kind of stuff I would expect to see on a really old pan. (Makes a beautiful cake too!)
I have met EJ and don't have any reason to doubt what he said. This could be a wonderful old survivor that sat unused. I think it could be nearly 100 years old, but have trouble getting it into the 19th Century.
Again, I would love to have a pan like this though. :)
Tom
