You grabbed it at an estate sale for three dollars. It's been sitting in the back of a cabinet ever since, holding a bag of rubber bands. Before you donate it or use it to prop open a door, flip it over and look at the bottom. The logo stamped into the base of that pan could be worth more than everything else on the table combined.
Vintage American cast iron has a serious collector market, and prices have climbed steadily for years. The three foundries that dominate it are Griswold, Wagner, and Lodge, but a handful of smaller makers command real money too. What separates a thrift store find from a four-figure payday comes down to three things: who made it, which logo they used, and what condition it's in. The last one matters most.
Table of contents
- Griswold “Erie” spider skillet
- Griswold #14 large block logo EPU skillet with heat ring
- Griswold #13 slant logo skillet
- Wapak Indian head #8 skillet with heat ring
- Wagner “pie logo” #13 skillet with heat ring
- Griswold #20 “hotel” skillet, large block logo
- Griswold #2 large block logo EPU skillet with heat ring
- Griswold Tite-Top Dutch oven #9 with fully marked lid, large block logo EPU
- Griswold #12 low dome fully-marked skillet cover
- Favorite Piqua Ware “smiley” logo skillet, #7 or larger
Griswold “Erie” spider skillet
Around 1890 to 1891, Griswold Manufacturing in Erie, Pennsylvania produced a short run of skillets stamped with the word “ERIE” and an embossed spider web on the base, spider included. Nobody has ever fully explained why, and production stopped almost immediately. The result is one of the scarcest pieces of American cast iron in existence.
Value depends almost entirely on how crisp the spider is. The design was raised rather than recessed, which meant it wore down fast with use. A sharp, complete web on a clean, crack-free pan is worth around $10,000 in top condition. A faint, worn spider on a heavily used example is worth a small fraction of that. If you think you have one, don't clean it with anything abrasive before you know what you're dealing with. The logo identification guide at The Cast Iron Collector can help you confirm what you have.
Griswold #14 large block logo EPU skillet with heat ring
Size 14 is where serious collectors compete. It's a large, unwieldy pan built for restaurants and institutional kitchens, not home use, which means clean surviving examples are genuinely hard to find. A flat-sitting #14 large block logo EPU with heat ring in good condition typically brings $600 to $800, with the best examples pushing higher.
The initials “EPU” stand for Erie, Pennsylvania, USA and appear on pieces made while the original Erie foundry was still operating. That marking matters. So does whether the pan sits flat. Larger Griswold skillets often warped with heavy use, and a pan with any wobble is worth noticeably less than one that sits dead flat on a glass surface. Flip it and check the logo too: you want the large block version, with lettering that covers most of the base, not the smaller post-war version where the logo shrank significantly.
Griswold #13 slant logo skillet
The number 13 is scarce in any Griswold logo. In the slant logo, it's genuinely rare. Griswold simply didn't make many, and a century of kitchen use has thinned the surviving pool further. Clean, crack-free slant logo #13s in good condition typically bring $2,000 to $3,000, with exceptional examples going higher.
This is the piece where condition caveats matter most. Check the cooking surface carefully for deep pitting, which happens when a pan has been subjected to extreme heat and can't be restored. Hairline cracks near the handle junction are common and hard to spot on a dirty pan. Any sign of welding or repair collapses the value entirely. A wobble reduces it. The slant logo features italicised lettering and, on the most desirable versions, an “ERIE” marking beneath it. Heat ring present means the pan predates the smooth-bottom era and adds desirability.
Wapak Indian head #8 skillet with heat ring
The Wapak Hollow Ware Company ran from 1903 until it went bankrupt in 1926, producing cast iron with cooking surfaces collectors regard as equal to Griswold's best. The most desirable Wapak logo features a Native American medallion on the base, produced throughout the company's entire run. Because Wapak is less famous than Griswold and Wagner, some buyers still overlook it, but the collector community has caught on.
The #8 with Indian Head and heat ring is the most frequently encountered size and typically brings $400 to $700 in clean condition. Larger and smaller sizes are scarcer and command more. Ghost marks, where a faint “Erie” is visible beneath the Wapak stamp because the company used Griswold molds, add further value to any piece. The Chicken Foot logo (where the “P” in Wapak has distinctive feet) and the Arc logo are the next most desirable after the Indian Head. Plain Wapak pieces without these special logos are still collectible but bring considerably less.
Wagner “pie logo” #13 skillet with heat ring
Wagner Manufacturing produced its distinctive pie logo, where a wedge-shaped design surrounds the Wagner Ware name, from roughly 1924 to 1934 out of Sidney, Ohio. It's one of the most visually striking logos in American cast iron, and the #13 is among the hardest sizes to find in any Wagner marking. In the pie logo, it's rare enough that experienced collectors actively hunt for it. Clean examples in good condition bring $800 to $1,000.
Experienced collectors note that pie logo pieces surface far less often than standard Wagner at sales and markets, and usually in the smaller, more common sizes. Any size above #8 is considered hard to find. Look for the full “Sidney -O-” marking beneath the logo, the heat ring on the base, and the double assist loop opposite the handle on larger sizes. Cracks around the assist loop are common on large Wagner pieces and immediately devalue a pan. The pie logo was only produced for about a decade, which is a short enough window that genuinely few pieces were made.
Griswold #20 “hotel” skillet, large block logo
The #20 is the biggest skillet Griswold made for regular sale, running approximately 20 inches across and built for hotel and restaurant kitchens. These pans worked hard and were replaced rather than stored when they wore out, which is why clean surviving examples are uncommon. Good condition large block logo EPU examples typically bring $800 to $1,800 depending on how flat they sit and how clean the markings are.
These are heavy, awkward to ship, and hard to display, which keeps some buyers out of the market. That's also part of why prices haven't climbed as fast as smaller rarities. The large block logo with “EPU” and “ERIE PA.” markings is what collectors want. Post-1957 pieces marked with the measurement spelled out, such as “20 inch skillet,” are not from the original Erie foundry and bring considerably less. Flat is essential at this size. Any wobble on a pan this large will be obvious and costly.
Griswold #2 large block logo EPU skillet with heat ring
The number 2 is almost as scarce as the number 1, and more useful as a display piece since it's at least visible without a magnifying glass. Large block logo EPU examples with heat ring in clean condition typically bring $700 to $1,000, with the slant logo ERIE version pushing toward $1,000 and above.
As with the #1, the logo tier determines the price tier. Slant logo and large block logo are what the collector market wants. Small block logo #2s exist, are still uncommon by any normal standard, but don't command the same prices as the earlier versions. Condition caveats apply especially hard at this size because any damage is fully visible on a small pan. Pitting, hairline cracks, and old re-seasoning over original surface all reduce value. A fully legible logo with strong, clear markings is what pushes examples into the higher end of the range.
Griswold Tite-Top Dutch oven #9 with fully marked lid, large block logo EPU
A matched Dutch oven and lid is worth substantially more than either piece alone, and fully marked examples, where both the oven and the lid carry matching Griswold logos and pattern numbers, are what collectors actively chase. Matched large block logo Griswold Dutch oven sets in the larger sizes typically bring $1,000 to $1,400 in clean condition. The #9 is slightly more available than the #12 or #13 but still commands several hundred dollars with a matching lid.
Lids sold separately rarely exceed $75 to $100 regardless of logo, so the premium is entirely in the matched pair. The Tite-Top design, with its distinctive raised rim for holding coals or liquid, is one of the more recognisable Griswold pieces and has a dedicated following. When evaluating any lid, check the rim for chips and hairline cracks, which are common and easy to miss on dark iron. The knob should be original, not a replacement. A cracked or replaced knob significantly reduces value on an otherwise clean piece.
Griswold #12 low dome fully-marked skillet cover
Skillet lids are the overlooked corner of the cast iron market, which is exactly why a sharp-eyed buyer can still find underpriced ones. Fully marked Griswold lids, where the lid carries a complete logo, size number, and pattern number, bring meaningfully more than unmarked or partially marked examples. A Griswold #12 low dome fully-marked cover in clean condition typically brings $300 to $475.
“Fully marked” is the key phrase. The low dome design is more collectible than the high dome because fewer were produced. When evaluating any Griswold lid, run your fingertip around the rim carefully for chips and hairline cracks, which are common and hard to see on dark iron without good light. The knob should be original cast iron, not a replacement. Matching a fully-marked lid to a fully-marked skillet of the same size and logo era is how collectors build premium sets, and a clean matched pair consistently sells for more than the two pieces bought separately.
Favorite Piqua Ware “smiley” logo skillet, #7 or larger
Favorite Stove and Range Company operated out of Piqua, Ohio until the mid-1930s. Less famous than Griswold or Wagner, which has historically kept prices lower, but the collector base is growing fast. The most recognisable Favorite logo features a curved embellishment under the company name that looks unmistakably like a smile. The smiley logo pieces are known for exceptionally smooth cooking surfaces that equal Griswold's best work from the same era.
The #7 with smiley logo brings $75 to $125 in clean condition, a fraction of equivalent Griswold pricing but rising as more collectors discover the brand. Larger sizes are harder to find and bring more. Blue enameled Favorite Piqua pieces, where only the base was enameled to prevent rust, are among the rarest the company produced and surface rarely. Any piece with sulfur pitting across the base is common and worth little regardless of logo. Look for clearly legible markings, a flat cooking surface, and no cracks. The brand is increasingly showing up in collector circles as a more accessible entry point into American cast iron.
