“What’s it worth?”
I’ve said it before – in my opinion, the current “value” of a particular piece is shown by what someone is willing to pay for it. Age, scarcity, the precise markings on the pan, current demand, timing, the reputation of the seller, and condition condition condition are all reflected in the what a person will reasonably pay for a particular pan. A piece that might have sold a few years back for $500 might sell today for twice that, or half that. This site has blog posts that show auction prices paid in 2002, 2012, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. Prices fluctuate with demand. Selling prices can vary by hundreds of dollars, as you can see in my blog post about the Griswold Santa Mold.
When you are trying to figure out how much a particular piece is “worth” – whether it’s yours or one you are considering buying – many factors come into play. If you look at some of the resources in my post “Learn about Your Vintage Cast Iron,” you will find resources to help you begin your research. The Blue and Red books are an essential resource for identifying a piece of vintage or antique cast iron cookware.1
Knowing what you are buying before you buy is of paramount importance. Especially when you first become interested in vintage cast iron, it is easy to simply buy everything you see, hoping that you might have a valuable treasure in that pile of iron.
It’s easy to jump on a Facebook page or forum and send a photo to someone, saying, “What’s this worth?” What you need to understand is that you will get a wide variety of answers depending on who you ask. Some people – like me – will direct you to resources for you to do your own research. Others may give you a number. If that happens, ask what the number is based on. Some folks admittedly guess, some people will guess but not tell you they are guessing, others may have a similar piece and have overinflated the value, and still others may have recently bought or sold a similar piece in similar condition. Some people may be hoping you will sell them the piece for a lowball price; others have no idea but are suggesting what they might be willing to pay. You may find yourself getting messages offering to buy the piece from you or asking what you want for the price you are inquiring about. People may make reasonable offers or they may make unreasonable offers. You must know the difference when buying or selling a piece.
Identify the Piece and Find Current Selling Prices
First, you have to know what you have. If you get lucky, in doing your research you’ll also find recent selling prices.
Looking at current selling prices for a piece in the same condition as yours (clean, uncleaned, cracked, fire damage, warped, pitted, etc.), with the same markings (maker, large block logo, slant logo, ERIE or Erie Pa or ERIE PA USA, diamond logo, small logo, size, pattern number, and on and on…). This will give you a good start.
Without a Photo: Do a Google Search to Find Your Pan
You can use the markings on a particular piece of cast iron to help you identify what you have.
With a Photo: Do a “Reverse Image” Search to Find your Pan
If you have or can take a photo of a piece, it is easy to do a “reverse image” google search. Here’s how to do it!
Look at eBay “Sold” Pricing
Another way to find the current “value” of a piece is to look on eBay for sold pieces with the same markings, in similar condition. My YouTube channel has a video I made a few years back that shows how to find prices realized by eBay sellers for a cast iron pan within the past 90 days. I have inserted the video below for easy review.
Finding an actual realized price for a piece that has the same markings as yours, in the same condition, is a good start to determine the “value” of your pan. Remember: the asking price is not the same as the actual value. Just because someone has listed a piece for e.g. $250, does not mean $250 is the value of a similar piece. You want to know what someone is actually paying for a similar piece; not what a seller is hoping that some person will pay.
Remember, too, that if a piece sells on a “Buy it Now” listing with “Best Offer Accepted,” you won’t know what the piece actually sold for. What you do know is that the piece sold for some number less than what the seller originally asked. “Best Offer Accepted” means that the seller accepted an offer for the piece that was less than what the piece was listed for.
I did a quick eBay “sold items” search for “Griswold 8 skillet” on May 3, 2025. 692 results popped up as matches; meaning that 692 listings had those three words in them that were sold in the 90 days preceding May 3, 2025. Shown below are the first 16 that came up as the most recent sales.
Narrowing the search terms would, of course, result in fewer results. It would also, however, likely result in matches closer to the particular piece of cookware that you are researching. Try several different variations of search terms to find what works best for the item you are researching.
Find Recent Online Auction Prices
I’ve written several blog posts about the lure of the large cast iron auction. If you have the chance to attend one, go! Not only are they tons of fun, they are also educational. The large cast iron collector’s auction allows you to see hundreds of different pieces of cast iron and get a feel for the difference in condition, markings, size, and selling prices obtained. Just be sure to heed all of the advice and tips in my blog posts about auctions. There are many sites that offer online cast iron auctions.
February 2025 Air Works Auction
A large annual consignment auction by Air Works Consignment features hundreds of cast iron pieces and is held in Mount Hope, Indiana. The most recent auction as of this writing was held on the weekend of February 14, 2025.
Oftentimes, the results of an online auction conducted by an auction house are available online for a time after the auction. This is particularly true if you “watched” a piece or two (i.e. put it on a “favorites” list on the auction website). It seems that if you “watch” or “favorite” a piece, it is more likely that the auction results will be available to you on the website after the auction.
Searching through the catalog after an online auction allows you to see what pieces sold for at the auction. The auction price shown in the catalog will not reflect the buyer’s premium paid (at the Air Works auction the online buyer’s premium was 20%) or any shipping cost incurred. You can see some of the Air Works results on my blog, but certainly not all of the results for all of the pieces. If that is what you want to see, you need to follow and favorite the auction and look up the results shortly after close of the auction. .
Hope this information is helpful to you next time you’re trying to find the “value” of a particular piece – happy hunting!
- The prices in the Blue and Red books do not accurately reflect current value. Instead, they reflect the opinions of the authors at the time that the books were written. The Blue book was originally published in 1995; the Red book in 2001. The prices shown in the books do, however, give guidance insofar as illuminating the scarcity of a particular piece. Higher-priced pieces can generally be considered more scarce than lower-valued pieces. And yes, if you click on the link and purchase one or both of the books, I will receive a tiny commission. I’d appreciate that; running this blog is not free.
