Looking to identify the manufacture of a cast iron griddle, its 19x9 with handles on both sides. On the bottom the only marks are:

L G :right in the middle
Large "7" :above the L G
"S" to the right of the 7 about 3 inches.

Any thoughts? Thanks

Well, Bill/ Oregon is our residential cast iron aficionado; perhaps he knows.

Not sure that any of the marks and numbers translate into a maker. I looked up cast iron/Dutch Oven symbols on the internet and the ones described here mainly deal with type, size, etc. Maybe someone can find something else that is useful in determining the maker.

Looks like a Lodge casting made for a store without the Lodge symbol. Lodge's surface quality is usually rougher than the vintage ones. Could be a LG = long griddle. Is the 7 a line number for a foundry? Might be.
Cast iron numbers

For Jon.

Aw hell, I have one just like it in the bottom oven drawer. I'll look at it tomorrow + tell what I can. I only used it for pancakes on 2 burners when the kids + grandkids were coming by for breakfast.

Yep, same skillet. In the casting on the bottom it says, Wagner Works / Sydney. Although yours + mine are identical; I'm sure that other mfgs used the same pattern as in the old adage," I'm sure they didn't break the mold after they made yours." Regardless, over 2 burners it makes fantastic pancakes. I hope this helps.

Late to this one, but that Web site that Custombolt linked to is truly "cast iron central."

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
Yep, same skillet. In the casting on the bottom it says, Wagner Works / Sydney. Although yours + mine are identical; I'm sure that other mfgs used the same pattern as in the old adage," I'm sure they didn't break the mold after they made yours." Regardless, over 2 burners it makes fantastic pancakes. I hope this helps.

A picture of yours, with detail on the handles, and raised edges, would be helpful in substantiating commonality.

I can't say all, but all of the cast iron skillets manufacturer's I have, made un marked or "un signed" skillets for retail sellers. Just as today, the mark gave the customer the appearance of quality. Consumers have been trained, all their lives, to evaluate trademarked items as being better than unmarked generic items. And retailers like giving customers choices, and one choice is a cast iron item with the store name on a paper label, that costs less than the same cast iron item with the real manufacturer's trademark.

Sometimes a retailer will pay extra and have the manufacturer cast a store specific markings on the item. The web claims this is a Griswold skillet made for Sears:

Nothing new under the sun as the gun + appliance industries can attest. Western Field. Kenmore, ad nauseum.

Mine were my grandmothers skillet, smooth as a babys butt, seasoned to perfection, wash only with water and perhaps a eye dropper if soap,one drop..Not marked, but late 1800s..Gives a hernia to carry across the kitchen..a formable weapon for uninvited guests, including burglars...

Indeed! Heaven help the person that removes the seasoning from my cast iron 'spider'. It can be done again, but it is a process. Formable weapon indeed. Reminds me of a story my Grandfather told when he was young. He slipped a cast iron skillet down the back side of his britches, + when his Dad told him to go + oil the tractor, He said, "You want it oiled, go do it yourself". Anyway, after the skillet came out of his pants, he did get a severe whopping. There was no such thing as child abuse in those days; you screwed up + got your butt busted. America could use more of that today.

That'n made me laugh, Randy. Thanks.
Have a Griswold No. 6 that was my grandmother's, and a big Wagner No. 10 that's hard on my arthritic wrist. Looking at the Stargazer 10.5 -- equivalent to an old No. 8 -- as an in-betweener.

True story:
An old Texas Ranger friend of mine long past, was sent to arrest a known felon of ill repute and known to fight..

As the Ranger walked up to the house, the perp came out with an iron skillet held over his chest and a pistol in his other hand firing a shot or shots?..The ranger centered the skillet with his 30-30 and bullet and chunks of iron ended the bad guys crime career.

If it ain't true, by God, it ought to be!

Does anyone remember the comic strip "Our Boarding House, with Major Hoople"? The major was always stumbling home in the wee hours after a night of tippling at the Owl's Club and his bride Martha would be waiting for him at the doorstep with either a skillet or a rolling pin.
"Egad! It's Martha..." he would mutter. I wonder if Martha preferred Griswold or Wagner ...