Well, the history of VICTOR skillets has yet to be written.
Maybe this will start it:
From my observations and information, however little, from Griswold catalogs I would say that Griswold made ALL Victor skillets that have a pattern number on them. This would preclude the early VICTOR odorless type skillets with the air cooled handle. Some people have thought that they may have been made by Griswold but I say absolutely not.
Griswold's Victor skillets were made to fill a void for cheaper priced skillets to the trade to compete with other cheaper or lessor quality pans on the market at the time. I deduce that statement from what Wagner says in their catalog about their similiar line of NATIONAL skillets. Other similiar pans were made by Wapak (Oneta) and Favorite (Miami).
I have not seen a Victor without a pattern number on the bottom but I have seen them with a style very similiar to the earlier ERIE skillets with the extra thickness around the outer top of the side of the skillet. This would indicate the Victor skillets go back into the 1890's or early 1900's. Nickel plating was done on some of the early Victor skillets. Made only in sizes 7-9 for most of the time, a 6 was added in the later 20's and the 5 added by 1932. Victor skillets seemed to have been discontinued by Griswold in the 1930's.
Early Victor skillets are marked only VICTOR on the bottom with pattern and trade numbers also. Perhaps, in the teens, additional writing was added (The Griswold Mfg. Co.) across the center of the bottom. Then, in the 20's (?) the full writing was added including ERIE, PA, USA and CAST IRON SKILLET.
Similiar skillets to the Victor pans seem to have been made by Griswold with only the trade and pattern numbers on the bottom such as the 754 and 755 pans. Again, some of these were nickel plated. Were they like the unmarked "IRON MOUNTAIN" line of skillets and other cookware that Griswold made?
Many of the later No.7 Victors have the "7" on top of the handle upside down. These are not Monday morning/Friday afternoon mistakes but may have been a slight mistake, left uncorrected, in one of the patterns for the later No.7 skillets. The upside down 7 may be more prevalent than the rightside up one from what I have seen and there is no reason that either should be worth more than the other.
The Victor 5 is the most valuable and rare followed by the No.6. Both are the fully marked versions only. You will notice differences in the undersides of the handles among the many variations of Victor skillets.
What does the name "VICTOR" mean? I don't know but it was not to celebrate victory in WW I as the skillets were first made well before the start of that war. I would guess that Griswold just picked a name that would sound good and it had no meaning unless, possibly, that Griswold was the "Victor" in the rush to see the most and best iron cookware made and sold. I doubt that we will ever know the real reason for the pick of that name.
No covers were ever made for Victor skillets unlike the Wagner National pans for which skillet covers were made.
Wow, that's more than I ever knew about Victors. My first piece of iron cookware was my familie's c.1920 Victor No.8 skillet so I have a fondness for them.
Can anyone add more info?
Steve
