1890–1917

Pre-WWI Golden Age (1890–1917)

The early, mostly pre-trademark years of the big American foundries. Griswold's predecessors in Erie marked skillets simply ERIE until about 1907, then moved to the italic "slant" cross-and-circle logo; Wagner, founded in Sidney, Ohio, in 1891, marked its iron with a plain WAGNER (later with SIDNEY O. and, from about 1914, "Wagner Ware"); and Joseph Lodge's Blacklock Foundry ran in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, from 1896 until a 1910 fire. Pans from these years typically have a heat ring on the bottom and milled cooking surfaces, and many were nickel plated. They are scarcer than later pieces and clean, flat examples usually ask more — an ERIE No. 8 typically lists for roughly $190–300 against about $100–190 for a 1920s–30s large-logo Griswold No. 8 — while rare variants such as Griswold's spider-logo skillets are priced individually. Age cuts both ways: expect more pitting, more cracks around handles and more worn plating, and check attributions carefully, since no marked Blacklock skillets are known.