About Mary

How it all started

My interest in vintage cast iron started some years back when I purchased a pretty Griswold gem pan. It was beautiful, and I was impressed by the fine casting and care that had gone into its creation. I wanted to learn more about it – its history, use, and care.

I began looking for and buying more iron cookware, cleaning and restoring the pieces and started selling pieces on eBay and Craigslist. I also began cooking almost exclusively in cast iron – I liked that it was “green” and non-toxic, and I appreciated that many of the pieces had been on this earth longer than me. I enjoyed working with the old pieces, appreciated their history, and was proud to put the old pieces – many sorely neglected – back into homes where they would be used and enjoyed.

The Business

I found that there was an active market for vintage and antique cast iron cookware. In around 2011, I created a business (The Pan Handler LLC). Shortly after, I started a website and began blogging and selling pans globally on the internet.

The business grew and became successful. In 2015 I retired from my “regular” full-time job and devoted all of my time – and then some – to the business. I traveled across the country – usually with Linda Lamb, a great friend who worked alongside me as the Pan Apprentice – in search of iron to restore and put back into homes. The business and I were fortunate enough to garner some media attention. I had the opportunity to write for magazines, which I enjoyed. Sales were brisk and I found that I was pretty much spending all of my waking hours working on cast iron in one form or another.

Sale of the Business

One beautiful summer weekend in 2016 I went sailing with friends. I was away from the computer and phone and relished the peace. I realized that I wanted to stop and smell the roses more than I was able to do while running the business.

I sold the business effective January 1, 2017.

Acquisition of the Business URL by an operation in China

The business continued under different leadership until around 2019 when the business operations seemed to suddenly cease, and the website URL was somehow acquired by an operation in China. All of my previous content that had been on the business website was gone.

I have nothing whatsoever to do with the China operation that is using the URL of my old business. It hurts my heart that the business name (and some of my old content) is being used by them. I recently (April 2024) learned that there is yet another website out there that says that my old business – and me! – is now writing on their site; that is certainly not the case. I have asked to have that representation removed from the site and we’ll see what kind of response I get.

Mary and Cast Iron Today

After selling the business, I continued to blog and write about cast iron in a few different places. Life intervened – as it does – and I took significant breaks.

On griswoldcookware.com, I have endeavored to recreate some of the content about vintage cast iron cookware that I had earlier written, as well as provide some new content. Some of my earlier content is lost to the ages, and all I wrote for the e-commerce business seems to be gone.

Bringing the content back online has been an expensive time-consuming technical adventure! I’ll be in the process of recreating content for some time, I suspect.

I am glad to be back writing. I love thinking about these old pieces – where they have been and what they might have been used for. I am happy that others share this same interest and I’m glad to be able to share some information. I love visiting with collectors seeing and learning about their collections, and sharing their enthusiasm about these old pieces of American history.

There are so many folks out there now who are excited about using and collecting vintage and antique iron – far more than when I began my cast iron adventure. It is fun to meet and share with others who have the same interest and enthusiasm about these old pieces.

Enjoy the site!