Ghost Erie

[Clark Rader]

I got a skillet out of the lye bath, (yes lye bath), cleaned up good. The skillet is a #6 SIDNEYHOLLOW WARECo., (arch) SIDNEY O. Polished nickel ? 1887-1898, book value $30, less the nickel platting.
This same skillet has a ghost ERIE (arch). The Erie skillet was cast 1870s- to 1900, book value for that #6 is $150 to $200, It is 9 1/2 plus 1/32 from lip to lip x 13 5/8+ to the handle.
Boy, what do I have here??? The inside is not nickel platted.
Another question, when & did thay ever put (tefflon) on what skillets? I have a shallow  Wagner 3 hole skillet that sure looks like it has tefflon on inside?
                                                                clark

[Steve_Stephens]

Clark,
My best guess it that Sidney Hollow Ware use an ERIE skillet to make a pattern for their pans.  If you were to compare your pan to the ERIE one that is the same as one that your pan was made from, there should be about 1/16 to 3/32" shrinkage in diameter on your pan.  Since ERIE skillets are not as uniform in size among different patterns for a particular size you would have to compare a certain pan to get the most accurate comparison.  But, probably any ERIE 6 skillet would tell you if your pan is smaller.

The red and blue books dating on ERIE skillets is about 10 years too early at both ends of the date range.  Not sure if any ERIE skillets or even any cookware from Selden & Griswold was made before about 1880.  Might have been but I've seen nothing to date to prove that.  First use of the Slant Tm was in 1909 so EREI skillets probably were made up to a little past 1905.

The first iron skillets that were coated with teflon were done so after teflon was invented.  Maybe a google search for teflon would tell you that date.  I have seen a Wagner smooth bottom skillet that might be c.1960 that was coated with a greyish green teflon on the inside.  Haven't seen any other makes that we collect that were teflonized.

Steve

[Jerry Cermack]

Haven't seen any other makes that we collect that were teflonized.

A long time ago (MONTHS) I saw a big Griswold on Ebay with teflon coating inside.  Cant remember the size now....12 or 14 maybe?

The only skillet i've seen other than in Dave's book.

I also saw a #10 Dutch Oven in a shop one time that I swear had black teflon coating on the inside?....wish now I'd bought it.....
:D

[Clark Rader]

If the date's on this #6 SIDNEYHOLLOW WARE skillet (blue book page 281) were made at that time 1887-1898, than that ghost ERIE (skillet) was made before or during that time, more or less than not, maby?

Note # 1 this #6 skillet is a very good casting, and the walls are nice and thin. I belive it is a keeper.

Are there any outher ghost mark skillets out there that would say that maby this date before that?

Note #2 that I said maby?.
                                  clark

[Troy_Hockensmith]

Sidney was only in business making holloware for around 10 years and the date's need verified but wasn't it 1887 when they sold the holloware portion to Wagner? They were competing with Wagner in their homeown and maybe they were looking to improve their product and sampled an early ERIE towards the end. All speculation and I need to verify those dates. There is an article in KNC Vol 3 that is one of the later issues about Sidney but I don't have the here. That might shed some light on the dates.  

[Thomas_Callaway]

I have quietly collected some early Wapak skillets. A #7, #8, #9, #10 and #12.

The #7 has a ghost E above Wapak and a ghost WAGNER running at an angle through Wapak.

The P on the #8 is much larger than the other letters and is split on the bottom like it may have been an A.

On the #9 Wapak is below the center but has no ghosts.

The #10 has a ghost 716A near the center and the 10 is large and ghost-like but shaped like a 10 found on ERIE skillets.

On the #12 Wapak is slightly above center, but at the top there are rough spots (rub outs?) where Wagner and Sydney -O- should be.

The handles on all look like WAGNER's.

These pans are noticeably rough on the bottom and have a few casting flaws here and there. The insides are smooth, very smooth, and the casting is thin. Very good pans in my opinion. I thought the various ghosts were interesting so I started collecting this series. According to the Blue Book this series only included the #6 through #12 so I'm almost there, except for the money to buy the #11 of course. ;D I've not seen a #6, but I'm looking.

TC

[Steve_Stephens]

Another makers ghost name on a skillet seems to me to indicate that the company who made the ghost skillet decided it was easier or cheaper to make a pattern from an existing skillet rather than to design their own pattern from scratch.  Perhaps they even bought old patterns from other companies and made necessary changes to the markings.  Not sure we will ever know.
Steve

[Thomas_Callaway]

Use the "lid test" Steve. Of the skillets I listed in above post a Griswold or Wagner lid is slightly too big for all but the #9. The lids (both W & G) fit but very tightly. I'd say Wapak used the skillets as a pattern from this observation.

TC

[Steve_Stephens]

TC,
Sold most of my test lids so can't use them to check but that would be a good way.  I do wonder on the earlier pans, though, because they were made before skillet covers came into being.  I wonder if anyone has ever checked the fit of later covers on early skillets to see if the early pans have the same diameters as later ones.  Any differences would be quite small.  I do know that there are some differences in the diameter of certain early ERIE No.8 skillets and some very large differences in the earliest ERIE 7 skillet an later ones.  Shapes and sizes of the earlier ERIE lips are also variable both on the same size pans and different sizes.  Quite small but enough to make a cover fit differently.
Steve

[Thomas_Callaway]

I don't have any ERIE's, but from my Slant ERIE's on up the lids fit perfectly. I have Low FW's, High FW's, High Button and High Plain. They all fit interchegeably, even the Wagner Wares for the standard skillets. Let's not get into the Wagner lids again. ;D I finally have the ones I need to fit what I wanted, with a few to spare!

TC