ERIE skillet with gate mark

[mr_jjy]

I got a #10 ERIE skillet with a gate mark on the bottom.  Ive never seen one with a gate mark.  Does this date it to the earlier part of the line?  I'll post a photo of it later...

thanks- Jim

[C. Perry Rapier]

Yes Jim, please do post a picture of it? There is much debate about whether Griswold ever made a bottom gated skillet. Some say yes, some say no, some say love, it is a river, oh no thats another area. Anyway, seriously though, much debate. So I know we'd all like to see it. Speculation is that all bottom gated "ERIE" skillets were made using a "ERIE" skillet as a pattern and thus making the copies a tad smaller than the original, which was used for the pattern. Me, I don't really know, but, it would appear to me, that since there are gobs of "ERIE" skillets out there, that if Griswold did make a bottom gated skillet at any time, why don't you see more of them?

[mr_jjy]

ok thanks... I was able to get some photos taken and near an internet connection!!

The pan is marked "10 A" on the bottom.  ERIE is large print, there are no "" marks...

The pan is ERIE in design but has the feel of one that was cast with the back gate mark technique. Two shots show the gate mark clearly in the back of the pan.  One shot shows the handle detail better from the back.  The shot I took from the front shows the casting flaws that eminate away from the gate mark.  

From what I read Griswold was making these pans from the 1860s onward which seems to overlap the "gate mark era" by 20-30 years.  Were they making pans using a different technique far earlier than other makers? I hear that other gate mark pans commonly date from 1870s1890s...  It would make sense to me that if ERIE was so popular and other makes were out using bottom gate methods, that someone would knock of the ERIE design...  

I dont know if they say this is love or a lie... but if this is a copy from 100+ years ago then, well thats just fine by me.  Its a neat pan.  Anything else I can provide to help you gurus slueth this out?

Thanks
Jim

[mr_jjy]

photo 2

[mr_jjy]

photo 3

[mr_jjy]

photo 4

[Steve_Stephens]

Jim, that would be a copy from a second series ERIE skillet.  Since the first series was all side gated there would be no reason for Griswold to go to an earlier casting method for a later skillet.  An 1883 Selden & Griswold catalog states ..."our ware being gated on the sides, we guarantee it against sand holes".  Griswold from the very early days took pride in the way they cast their iron.  They did bottom gate tea kettles and only a few other pieces that you rarely see.  As for Griswold making cookware in the 1860s, I doubt that.  They started out making hardware.  I don't know when their first cookware was but at least by 1880 they had a waffle iron.  The 1883 catalog shows a fairly complete set of cookware items.  I don't think they were making much if any cookware in the later 1870s.  Don't go by the dates in the books as they are, in my opinion, quite far off on many of the dates and are just guesses by the authors and I don't see that too much thought went into choosing many of the dates.  Most iron cookware was bottom gated all during the 19th century and probably quite a few makers continued somewhat into the 20th century with some even bottom gating into the 30s or later.

Steve