Can You Identify This Skillet

[Norm Koehler]

Located a skillet last week that I can't identify (see the two photos). The only marking is a 9 on top of the handle which appears to form a "V".  On the bottom is a large gate mark.

Can anyone identify the manufacturer and about when it was made?

[Norm Koehler]

2nd photo

[Chris Stairs]

Norm,
 That is the most common form of gatemarked skillet that I see. I have several of them in various sizes, and they are some of my favorite skillets to use. The quality of the casting and condition can vary widely. They all do have one thing in common.
  Without a maker's mark, the maker will never be known. That's because there were so many, different foundries making skillets just like this.

[Dale Myers]

As a newcomer here I have a question about "gatemarks"
I know the reason for the gatemark but approximately what years were these skillets made?
I have a griddle with a very similar handle and gatemark.

[Rick Gilley]

I agree with Chris...I have several gatemarked skillets with that exact handle and small pour spouts. Nice skillets, but hard to identify.

[Mike Shonfield]

I know the reason for the gatemark but approximately what years were these skillets made?

Dale, my understanding is this:

The oldest pieces will have a circular "sprue" mark on the underside of the piece. This technique was used until the mid-to late 1700s. (Most pieces were cast upside down, to avoid having an unsightly sprue or gate mark on the top of the piece).

The next generation of cast iron have a "gate" mark, which will look like a long thin line on the bottom of the piece. This is where the iron entered the mold, and the technique lasted from the mid-1700s to the late 1800s or so. Pieces made around 1875 to the present time have the iron enter the mold from the sides (usually in two places, sometimes opposite one another), which creates a smooth bottom.

Current techniques have the iron coming in from the side, so look for one or more places on the side of the iron with heavy grinding marks--that is where the iron entered the mold. The grinding was done to get rid of the excess metal from the pour.

[Chris Stairs]

 I would be reluctant to name a date when foundries "switched over" to side gates from bottom gates. While we do know that some foundries were using the newest technology as early as 1880 or so, I suspect that there were many little foundries around the country that continued making bottom gated items well into the 20th century.
  It would have been an expensive upgrade to replace all of those patterns. Both Wagner and Griswold were just getting started circa 1880, and made side gates right from the start. Lodge started around 1910, and followed suit.
  I would think that earlier foundries probably would have continued making bottom gated items for some time after this. Maybe even into the 1920's (just a guess).

[Mike Shonfield]

Yes, I suspect you are correct.  I just use those dates as a guideline.  

Interesting to hear about Wagner and Griswold starting with side gates.  I didn't know that.

So if I find a bottom gate it cannot be an unmarked Wagner or Griswold.

[Dale Myers]

Thanx all.

[Dwayne Henson]

Another idea to keep in mind is when stoves came about, which is about the 1850's I believe. Before stoves, hearth cooking was done. With most implements used to cook had legs, or sat on a moveable grates, (in or out of the fire). The advent of the stove with its flat top brought about concerns with the gate mark since legs were not used and the use of the leveling ring, or heat ring became important. So it would have been a narrow band of time when most of these were cast. I have been told that some less-volume pieces, such as the legged spider skillets where produced up to WWII with a bottom gate due to the low volume sold and the high price of making a new pattern. It just wasn't economical.