Garage Sale Find: Griswold Cast Iron Kitchenware

     This week's best garage sale deal was a nice lot of Griswold Cast Iron.  Griswold manufactured Cast Iron pieces from 1865 to 1957.  The first and oldest pieces will be marked simply Erie, over the years the name Griswold and a trademark emblem was added. 
     Collectors always look for the words "Erie", "Erie, PA" or "Erie, PA USA", this identifies the pieces as being the oldest and also of being produced by the original manufacturer.  
     After the company sold in 1957 other manufacturers produced under the Griswold name, however, if you are collecting cast iron always look for the Erie name as it is much more valuable.    
     Wikipedia has some great  information on the various logo's throughout the years.  Also, if you do happen to find some Griswold at a yard sale or garage sale don't try to clean it up until you read about the procedures of cleaning cast iron.
      Flea Markets, estate sales, yard sales, garage sales and of course eBay are the best places to find the older Griswold.  I paid $50 for all these pieces and will probably make anywhere from $250 to $300 when I sell them. 

The above trivet is a vintage Griswold cast iron star trivet.  It's marked  Erie, PA

     Below is a Griswold cast iron skillet marked #10  it a Griswold Skillet # 716, notice the Griswold lettering is slanted inside the emblem.  Griswold with  italic lettering was produced from 1897 - 1920. It is also marked Erie.

The most interesting find is this Griswold cast iron Plett Pan shown below.  This is a vintage piece, probably from the 1950's.  The underside reads NO 34, GRISWOLD inside the Griswold emblem, also there is the number 2980 with an A.
     The Plett Pan is a Swedish pancake griddle, it can make 7 perfectly round pancakes each 3 1/4" diameter.   The pan itself  is approximately 9  1/2" in diameter.  The letter "A" makes this the first lettered Plett Pan that Griswold made. 
     This was a very good deal at $50 for all three pieces!!!



 

Collecting Vintage Neon Signs

     Vintage Neon Signs are highly collectible among sign collectors.  They are actually a triple collectible enticing collectors of vintage and antique signs, collectors of advertising and collectors of neon art or a combination of all three.  The older and more unusual the sign the more collectible.
     If you find one of these neon signs be sure it is in good working condition before purchasing.  Years ago I bought  a couple at a yard sale for $20 thinking I had hit a treasure trove.  Unfortunately, one of  the signs did not work at all when plugged in and the other only partially worked. 
     Neon signs are made by using luminous tube lights filled with special gas. They were extremely popular in business windows from the 1920's to the 1960's.  Neon signs are extremely fragile, always take extra careful measures when transporting or storing.  The glass tubes break so easily and then your sign is pretty much worthless.
     There are neon restoration business's, however, you can always tell when one has been restored as they do not shine the same.  If a partial repair has been made on a vintage neon sign it stands out and screams I've been repaired. Not all Neon signs are vintage, do a little research before spending a lot of money.
     Keep your eyes open at garage sales, yard sales, auctions and estate sales for these rare signs some are very valuable, some are highly collectible, all are pretty cool!

 These neon signs are circa the 1970's, not really old, not really new but worth around $100-$150 give or take a few dollars.