Unmarked Muffin Pan - Wagner Style D?

[Jeff Friend]

Hey Y'all,

About three years ago, I spotted an interesting muffin pan in one of the nearby antique malls.  It looked like a nice pan and was a high quality casting.  The individual muffin cups were very smooth inside, but unground.  The underside of the piece was also quite nice, with the only evidence of flashing between the cups and very few places, such as under the handles, that showed evidence of sand molding.  But it was unmarked and a little steep at $68.  At that price, I passed it up thinking I’d find another more in line with what I was willing to pay and hopefully with a pattern number or other clue as to who made it.

Then, last fall, I found its unmarked twin in a big antique mall in Harrisonburg, Virginia.  And the price was right at $18.  So I brought it home, cleaned it up and admired it, but never put it to use.  That’s because I had always used either a skillet or the trusty Griswold  No. 22 for cornbread.  But that has changed.

One evening I decided to come up with an easier cornbread recipe, and for some unknown reason, to try that unmarked pan.  My experiment was to “cheat” and use self rising cornmeal and flour instead of engaging in the measuring and sifting required by my usual recipe.  The results were great and now my wife, who claims to come from a family of experienced South Carolina cornbread bakers, doesn’t want me to make any other recipe.  She insists that the pan is one of the keys to these great muffins because the baked product is just the right size.  I agree. . .these corn muffins are so good they "make you wanna smack your momma," as they say 'round these parts.  But I am digressing, so I will post the recipe where it belongs.

Now that I've got all that out, I am wondering about the manufacturer and how common this gem of a pan is.  Could this pan be an unmarked Wagner Ware Style D Gem Pan?  I think it is closer to the picture of the Style D in Smith and Wafford than it is to the Griswold No. 11 New England Style Gem Pan, primarily because the handles both have holes.

When the dealer with the first pan I saw priced at $68 was having a big sale, I negotiated a pretty good price and brought it home with the No. 14 Lodge I posted a few days ago.  Some specifics on the pan, which is pictured below, and is identical to (within a 1/16 of an inch or so) the one I have been using:

Overall dimensions are 13” long (from handle tips) by 7 3/16” wide.
Each cup is 3 3/16” long and 1 7/8” wide.

Some details to follow.

Thanks!

Jeff

[Jeff Friend]

And here are a few details.  Note the way the iron slopes down from the handle and forms a ramp between the cups.

[Steve_Stephens]

Jeff,
Quite a few makers made those french roll pans with a lot of them made in New England.  That's a very nice casting you have.  If you like these style pans there are a number of very nice ones out there including some that are larger.  If your pan is gated on the bottom it probably isn't a Wagner.
Steve

[Greg Stahl]

Being from New England, you can find these all over the place and it would be hard to say this is a WW that is unmarked.  I probably have 15 of these for various sizes and markings.  They are a pain to clean however and most of mine are just in a heap in the basement.

[Jeff Friend]

Yes, these pans are a pain to clean.  They don't make just the right wire brush to get down into the cup.  I have a No. 11 Griswold and that casting isn't nearly as nice as this one.  This one is smooth everywhere except deep between the cups, which I also noticed on the big Krusty Korn Kob pan I took out of the electro soup last night.

The overall smoothness of the corn stick pans I have and this french roll pan is impressive.  No much evidence of sand molding.  Do you suppose these pans were put into one of those vibratory finishers?  Do you know the gizmo I am talking about?  We have a client that makes big hydraulic pumps and motors for Caterpillar equipment and they use this real slick thing called a Rotofinish machine.  Go to http://www.roto-finish.com/ to see a picture and read what all this machine does.  It is about the size of a big wash tub and is filled with ceramic media.  They put in a bunch of bronze parts, turn it on, and the whole thing vibrates at about 60 Hz.  The parts move around in the ceramic media for a few hours or so, and when they come out, the are all smooth and de-burred.

Steve, this pan appears to have been side gated, judging by the bottom of the pan.  But I will check to see if there are grinding marks on the sides.  I'd like to see a larger one.  Are they just bigger all around or with more cups?

Jeff

[Steve_Stephens]

Jeff,
The number of cups are the same but the larger pans are larger all around.  WB (Wood & Bishop) and Barstow both made slightly larger french roll pans.  There is a larger one still with a wide band in the center and several differently shaped cutouts down that band.  Nice pan and not really hard to find but not easy either.  And then there is the Griswold No.15 pans in several versions that are much larger than the common french roll pans.  There are also some with raised and fancy handles on the ends.  Endless variations of these hard to clean pans.  Get them clean or, at least, without rust, and save yourself some time.
Steve

[Steve_Stephens]

Jeff,
Here is a Barstow french roll pan;

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6195263956&category=976&rd=1

Steve