After a day of panning for gold up in the Olympic Mountains, I was on my way home when I randomly stopped in consignment shop. When I entered the door I wiped my feet on the mat. The owner noticed this and commented that I was the first person she had ever seen do that at the store and asked me if I would be willing to rent a few shelves to sell items at her store. Despite not understanding the connection between wiping the mud off my boots and being a consignor at her shop I took the bait. I asked her what she would have me sell and without batting an eye, she said, "Cast Iron!"
Well, I agreed to do so. At first I would buy pieces that seemed to be ready to use, but I quickly noticed there was a much larger choice of dirty, rusty, crusty iron to find. So I started to search for ways to restore the cast iron to sell a better product. In that research, I learned about Wagner, Griswold, Lodge, Favorite, Wapak etc... and I learned how to clean and cure iron. Soon, the pieces were flying off the shelf faster than I can clean and cure.
Eventually, regular trips to this remote shop was too taxing on the gas money, and I moved my booth of wares to a local store in Port Orchard, WA. That move boosted sales substantially and I have started keeping a request book at the shop.
Somewhere along the way, I started using the product I was selling and fell in love with the non-stick feature of well maintained cast iron. I really caught the collecting bug when I was digging around an old antique shop and was on my hands and knees, headfirst and waist deep into a cabinet when I found a #947 Griswold Brownie Cake Pan variation #6. It had been setting in that dark corner for years. The ink had faded on the price tag. I was able to procure it for $34.00. I took that pan home and somehow it started to reproduce into a few other pans, #140 Turk head, #262 Corn stick and a #866 Lamb Cake among the various skillets that I use on a regular basis.
Though my collection is small, I have purchased, cured and sold over 100 pans through the shop and I keep buying more. I love this hobby, the income it has produced has helped me get through some tight times. The food tastes better, and it is easy on the eyes and easy to talk about.
The attached pictures are the before and after of the one that started it all!