Desirable Vintage Cookware

[Cronker]

I'm going to spin this off from the other thread to keep things clean.

although I have no room or reason, I've started a little collection of vintage cookware and would like your input on what you might think is collectible-not from a financial position, but just enjoying nice things from long gone days.

[Lisa Shock]

Cast iron! Many items from the past are better made than modern cookware. (better balanced, more accurately shaped, more evenly conductive) It can very often be restored, very rarely is it not redeemable. I have some cast iron baking pans in shapes which are no longer made, so, I can make small cakes in shapes that most people have never seen. I can also make historic recipes accurately. (one of my pans is from the early 1800s) Some old cast iron sells for a pretty penny, but many items can be had reasonably inexpensively.

[boilsover]

Knives.  Pre-WW2 hotel grade copper cookware.  Baccarat and Waterford (Irish) crystal.  Sunbeam T-21 toasters.  Bascule scales and weights.  Green's Gripstand mixing bowls. 

 

I'll come up with more...

[andiesenji]

I have two of the Griswold cast iron lamb cake molds from the '30s. They were my grandmother's who originally had four.  One went to my grandparent's cook, along with several skillets, cake pans and other kitchen things, when my grandpa died.  She was a Gullah woman who had worked for my grandpa's cousin in Charleston before my grandpa hired her away in 1919 by promising her more money, a nicer home and employment for three of her daughters and a son.  He built her a new house on the farm. He was still a widower then with several children and needed the help.  

The other lamb mold went to one of my aunts who passed it on to a daughter in law.  

One was supposed to be for my mother but she was totally uninterested in such things.

I use my great grandmother's griddle often, it too is a "Griswold" but before they used the name on their cast iron.  It only says ERIE on the bottom, was made in 1889.

I have some very old copper, which I no longer use - the tin-lined stuff.  I used it for many years but now I have the stainless steel lined Bourgeat cookware.

I have several pieces of Descoware, the enameled cast iron cookware from Belgium which in my opinion is far superior to Le Creuset.  I bought it in the 1960s.

 

[Maison Rustique]

I have quite a few of these vintage French tin pots. A couple large and probably a dozen small, which I love to serve gazpacho in (keeps it nicely chilled). Nothing that special, just nice, usable vintage pieces.

[boilsover]

2 hours ago, Maison Rustique said:

I have quite a few of these vintage French tin pots. A couple large and probably a dozen small, which I love to serve gazpacho in (keeps it nicely chilled). Nothing that special, just nice, usable vintage pieces.

 

Tinned steel is very collectible, and affordably so, because most people don't know much about it.  My understanding is that it was popular in USA since at least the 1830s.  Unfortunately, like copperware of the same period, the pieces were rarely marked by their makers, so there's little point trying to collect any particular 'smith's work.

[Cronker]

Thanks all.

i have my mother's Gripstand bowl, some very old cast iron and things.

Very old rolling pins and serving bowls.

today I got some Rema-ware fish knives, still with the cardboard sheaths.  Not especially valuable but interesting nonetheless.

[andiesenji]

Tinned steel gave way in the latter half of the 1900s to enameled steel, which was the most popular cookware in America from the 1870s and into the 1930s.  1870 was when the COLORFUL, speckled, spattered, marbled, painted with designs, cookware appeared.  "Agate" ware and "Graniteware" were the most popular, but the stuff is very collectible today and some unusual pieces can sell for ridiculous prices.

Two years ago a red enamel muffin tin with bright blue speckles, sold for $1685.00.  Original price in 1889 - 15¢!

 

Some manufacturers hung on for a few years making larger pots which were much less expensive than aluminum or stainless steel and the ubiquitous  turkey roaster with it's iconic domed lis and available in many sizes.  Dishpans were another item that hung on until pushed aside by plastics.  

Edited January 3, 2018 by andiesenji (log)

[pastrygirl]

I do wish I had kept a few cast iron trivets before I sold all the stuff from Grandpa's collection. 

Edited January 3, 2018 by pastrygirl (log)

[Cronker]

3 hours ago, andiesenji said:

 

Two years ago a red enamel muffin tin with bright blue speckles, sold for $1685.00.  Original price in 1889 - 15¢!

 

Ouch!

[Cronker]

3 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

I do wish I had kept a few cast iron trivets before I sold all the stuff from Grandpa's collection. 

 

I have a nice old cast iron trivet in the store at the moment-$5 or so dollars on it, in great shape.  Just that trivets aren't my thing.

[Cronker]

Rena-ware fish knives, Peeredge cake slice, Copco vintage Dutch oven.

[Cronker]

Apart from perhaps the Dutch oven, none of these pieces are of any great value.

but question for the team - I'm thinking that the Rena-ware fish knives would have been used when serving a whole fish to the table, with each guest filleting it themselves?  They are bendy like a big fish knife, but I can't see a chef using them unless they were filleting sardines etc?

[Cronker]

Old German "multi-tool"

[cakewalk]

21 minutes ago, Cronker said:

Old German "multi-tool"

Oh, Chef of da Future ... can it core a apple?

[Cronker]

These pieces are cute.

[Cronker]

7 minutes ago, cakewalk said:

Oh, Chef of da Future ... can it core a apple?

Ummm, no, but it has all your melon balling and butter curls covered!  (Noted for honesty, the bottle opener doesn't work)

to be honest, it doesn't really work on any level, but it's interesting.

Edited January 4, 2018 by Cronker (log)

[Cronker]

Yup, I have checked properly, and that is depression/uranium glass - if you have any, be aware that it is highly sought after, collectible and valuable.

[Shelby]

6 minutes ago, Cronker said:

These pieces are cute.

That pitcher looks like something that would go for a bit of a price......but I'm no expert.

[Cronker]

2 minutes ago, Shelby said:

That pitcher looks like something that would go for a bit of a price......but I'm no expert.

It's quite small, like a milk jug or gravy boat.

Im no expert either - but I know what I like and usually it's good stuff.  My days left are going to be spent becoming the expert. I've been lucky, like you, to have a good eye for things.

Im happily surprised that you would pick the little green jug from that picture - I absolutely love it.

(And I paid $1 for it)

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, Cronker said:

It's quite small, like a milk jug or gravy boat.

Im no expert either - but I know what I like and usually it's good stuff.  My days left are going to be spent becoming the expert. I've been lucky, like you, to have a good eye for things.

Im happily surprised that you would pick the little green jug from that picture - I absolutely love it.

(And I paid $1 for it)

NICE!

 

I suspect it is worth much more.

[Cronker]

1 minute ago, Shelby said:

NICE!

 

I suspect it is worth much more.

The photo doesn't do it any justice.  It's a very beautiful piece.

as I have mentioned in other threads, I work in a charity shop, and believe me, I see tons of junk come through.

but now and then, a really nice piece comes through and I can't help myself.

[kayb]

22 minutes ago, Cronker said:

These pieces are cute.

I think my mother had that juicer.

 

[Cronker]

1 minute ago, kayb said:

I think my mother had that juicer.

 

Money money money.

uranium glass is crazy valuable right now.

 The story goes that during the war years, glass makers could not use lead because it was needed elsewhere for the war effort.  So they turned to uranium.  Don't worry, it's completely safe, and highly valuable.  That juicer in my picture is worth about $50.

bigger, more ornate pieces will go for multiple hundreds of dollars.

You need to have a UV torch to verify, but if it glows under UV, its uranium/depression glass.  There are collectors who will give you their first born child for the stuff.

Likewise "frog" vases from the 30s-50s -  highly sought after and very very valuable.  Think before your garage sale!

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, Cronker said:

Money money money.

uranium glass is crazy valuable right now.

 The story goes that during the war years, glass makers could not use lead because it was needed elsewhere for the war effort.  So they turned to uranium.  Don't worry, it's completely safe, and highly valuable.  That juicer in my picture is worth about $50.

bigger, more ornate pieces will go for multiple hundreds of dollars.

You need to have a UV torch to verify, but if it glows under UV, its uranium/depression glass.  There are collectors who will give you their first born child for the stuff.

Likewise "frog" vases from the 30s-50s -  highly sought after and very very valuable.  Think before your garage sale!

WAIT.  You mean the vessels that have a thingy with holes in it to hold stemmed flowers?