Griswold Cookware

Collectors and collections, History and Stories

Griswold, Lodge, Wagner, Favorite, Wapak, and More!

Griswold Cookware

Collectors and Collections,
History and Stories

Griswold, Lodge, Wagner, Favorite, Wapak, and More!

Ask Mary: Lodge 3-Pour-Spout Skillet

Be sure to read to the end for – as Paul Harvey would say – “the rest of the story!”

2019 Query from Richard

Richard R. from Collierville, Tennessee wrote to me via the contact form and said:

Hello. I have attached two pictures of a three pour spout skillet I found at an estate sale. One picture is as found and the other after cleaning in lye tank. I have been hunting for cast iron 2-3 years and lurking
on the internet sites and have purchased the red book and blue book for reference books. One of the books made reference to the [L]odge 3 spout. Do you think this is one? I am sorry I did not take [a] picture of
the bottom, any info you can advise would be appreciated. I love hunting for cast iron and learning each facet about its history, etc. Thanks,

Richard attached two photographs to his email. The first showed the skillet pre-cleaning. The second showed the skillet after Richard had cleaned it in a lye bath.

Richard’s skillet before cleaning.
Richard’s skillet after cleaning in a lye bath.

I knew right away from the photos that Richard had a Lodge 3-pour-spout skillet. It looked to be in beautiful condition; I could see the grinding marks on the walls of the pan.

Richard told me that he paid $10 for the skillet at a Memphis, Tennessee estate sale a few years back. Well, that was a lucky buy!

I asked Richard to send me a photograph of the bottom of the skillet. Here are three of the additional photos he sent:

Note that the heat ring has no “notches” or breaks in it. This is referred to as a “no notch” heat ring. The lack or presence (and number) of a notch helps to date Lodge cast iron skillets.
Bottom of handle.
Top of handle.

I gave a little presentation at the Lodge Collector’s tent at the 2019 Cornbread Festival and showed a number of collector’s pieces in the presentation. The 3-pour-spout skillets were featured; they are rare and highly sought-after.

Lodge no-notch 3 pour spout antique cast iron skillets
Three different Lodge 3-pour-spout skillets. Sizes 6, 7, and 8. The two on top are one-notch skillets; the one on the bottom (the size 6) is a no-notch. Photo by and from Mark Goldschmidt. From the collection of Mark Goldschmidt.

Richard’s skillet is a “no-notch” skillet, made by the Lodge Mfg. Co. in South Pittsburg Tennessee between 1910 and 1930.1

2019 – John C’s Opinion as to the Value

I reached out to Lodge historian and collector John Clough about Richard’s skillet. I had talked before to John about the 3-pour-spout skillets, and I knew that he would know the monetary value of the pan.

Richard, John told me (in late 2018 or early 19 – I expect that the value has increased since then!) that he believed that your 3-spout no-notch Lodge skillet would sell for at least $1,000. That’s quite a return on your $10 investment. Probably one of the best buys I’ve ever seen.

Congratulations, Richard! That’s a lovely and very valuable pan that you have there. Continue to enjoy your cast iron hunting!

(originally posted 2019).

2024 – The Rest of the Story

In early 2024, I was on the GCICA Facebook page, showing off some of Harold R. Henry’s collection. I was asked to post photos of Harold’s 3-notch skillets. I knew Harold at one time had one or more, but I didn’t have a photo. I did, however, have a photo of Mark Goldschmidt’s then collection of three 3-notch skillets. I posted that photo, as did collector Matt Morris.

Matt relayed a story – that Mark had purchased the number 6 skillet at an online Facebook auction for $1,626, from a person who had purchased the skillet for $10 at an estate sale. Small world! Two very valuable 3-notch Lodge skillets, both found at estate sales.

Keep your eyes open when you are on the cast iron hunt!

  1. The “notch” refers to a break (“notch”) in the heat ring on the bottom of some old Lodge skillets. In Mark Goldschmidt’s 3-pour-spout Lodge skillets, the two at the top of the photo each have one notch. “1-notch” pans were made by Lodge circa ~1930-40. Lodge also made “3-notch” skillets from ~1940 – 1922 with different variations throughout.

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