✅ SOLVED 18th Century 9" 3 legged Cast Iron Spider Pan Dug

[cannonball]

I'd love to find out who made this cast iron skillet. I found it two weeks ago along with three Georges and a bunch of early buttons here in New Jersey. The most modern coin at site was 1799. The 9" cast iron skillet is almost completely restored now. It has markings on the side, gate mark and an 8" handle. please chime in if you can tell me more about it.

 

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[Sandog]

Nice work on the repair.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Did you weld it back together? It sure looks better than it did!

 

[Randawg72]

First off, you should be a professional restorer. The letter 'I' is a molder's mark. (or maybe the 'M'). I couldn't find anything to help identify the foundry.

(from castironcollector website)

 

[Tony in SC]

It's called a hearth pan, designed to cook on the coals of the hearth, thus the legs. I would guess made in England. The colonies were not allowed to cast(though some did anyway)That way they had to buy from England. The Revolution changed all that.

 

[Red-Coat]

It's called a hearth pan, designed to cook on the coals of the hearth, thus the legs. I would guess made in England. The colonies were not allowed to cast(though some did anyway)That way they had to buy from England. The Revolution changed all that.

Not so. The “Iron Act” of 1749 was designed to encourage importation of pig iron and bar iron from colonial America and to prevent the building of facilities capable of converting it to compete with certain types industrial manufacturing in Britain. Specifically, it prohibited any type of mill or other engine for slitting or rolling of iron; any plating forge to work with a tilt hammer; or any furnace for making steel. Mills that already existed before the act were permitted to continue if certified by local governors.

Production of things like cast iron skillets was never prohibited and there were many American manufacturers. The legislation targeted things like knives, scythes, sickles and other edged tools (a tilt hammer would be needed to produce thin iron, and a steel furnace to make steel); nails (a slitting mill would be needed for the rod iron); and tinplate (a rolling mill would be needed.)

 

[Almy]

Beautiful piece! I'd really like to find a cast iron utensil that complete. All I have found are bits and pieces. Yours looks very old.

 

[flyadive]

Looks like a a bed warming pan.
They would place hot coals in it. Missing the lid.

 

[ARC]

Correct... That is a "spider skillet"... used right on spread thin campfire coals.

 

[UnderMiner]

That's admirable to restore a piece of history like that.

 

[cannonball]

I'd love to find out who made this cast iron skillet. I found it two weeks ago along with three Georges and a bunch of early buttons here in New Jersey. The most modern coin at site was 1799. The 9" cast iron skillet is almost completely restored now. It has markings on the side, gate mark and an 8" handle. please chime in if you can tell me more about it.

The mystery of the Spider Pan has been solved! With the help of TN members, The Facebook Cast Iron Community, Bill Garber, and the museum at Allaire State Park, the makers mark do confirm that it was indeed made locally at Howell Works, New Jersey. So far, we can't find another one like it. It's another one of a kind find!

 

[flyadive]

The mystery of the Spider Pan has been solved! With the help of TN members, The Facebook Cast Iron Community, Bill Garber, and the museum at Allaire State Park, the makers mark do confirm that it was indeed made locally at Howell Works, New Jersey. So far, we haven’t

So I was correct, your welcome.

 

[UnderMiner]

The mystery of the Spider Pan has been solved! With the help of TN members, The Facebook Cast Iron Community, Bill Garber, and the museum at Allaire State Park, the makers mark do confirm that it was indeed made locally at Howell Works, New Jersey. So far, we can't find another one like it. It's another one of a kind find!

That's excellent news! Now there's another tangible artifact to connect us to our collective past. History preservation at its finest. 👍

 

[cannonball]

So I was correct, your welcome.

I suppose you could use it as a bed warming pan as well as bed pan!

 

[Red-Coat]

So I was correct, your welcome.

I suppose you could use it as a bed warming pan as well as bed pan!

Definitely not a bed-warmer. Those didn't have legs. But the other fairly common use for 'skillets' with legs was as ash collectors beneath wood-burning stoves.

Great that you got it identified @cannonball

 

[UnderMiner]

I suppose you could use it as a bed warming pan as well as bed pan!

Oh dear, he must have owed money to the baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells

 

[invent4hir]

Nice work on the repair.

I'll second and third that!