About Doris
as told by Doris Mosier.
Griswold cast iron collectors Doris Mosier and her late husband Bob, bought, sold, wrote about and collected vintage cast iron for over 40 years.
Doris, age 86, of Meadville, Pennsylvania, is also a Griswold & Cast Iron Cookware Association (G&CICA) club charter member. She and Bob have contributed both to the cast iron collecting world and to G&CICA. One of the most significant contributions made by Doris to G&CICA was organizing, writing, publishing, and mailing the association’s quarterly newsletter for 16 years.
Doris also maintained a website at this URL – griswoldcookware.com – for over two decades. There, she shared the history of the Griswold Manufacturing Company and bought and sold Griswold cast iron cookware.[1]
Doris and Bob Mosier’s connection to vintage cast iron
Doris and Bob, who passed away in 2018, began collecting cast iron in the mid-1980s after Doris accidentally left her mother’s cast iron skillet and her grandmother’s Griswold grinder in their first apartment when they moved out.
Bob, a seasoned thrifter, suggested they pick up another skillet and grinder at a yard sale. Doris was skeptical. “Why would we want someone’s used stuff?” she wondered. But little did Doris know—this was to be the start of a grand new adventure.
The following weekend, Doris and Bob went to a nearby auction and purchased a Griswold skillet. After that, they regularly went to yard, auction, and estate sales, looking for Griswold cast iron. Before you know it, they were collectors. As Doris says, “After that first auction purchase, the race was ON!”
The Mosier’s collecting experience
Doris and Bob’s collection was almost exclusively Griswold cast iron, reflecting their understanding and appreciation of the company’s cookware production lines from 1865 to 1957.
Doris and Bob traveled around the country buying cast-iron collections. Doris also solicited cast iron sales and wrote articles about Griswold on the griswoldcookware.com website. Several of Doris’s articles are preserved on this site, including Doris’s quick fixes for cleaning iron, tips on lingo and Griswold logos, a list of some of the more common Griswold reproductions, a recap of some of the Mosier pup collection, and making Griswold cakes. The Mosiers sold duplicate pieces to replenish funds and purchase more iron for their collection.
At the height of their collecting, Doris and Bob owned approximately 750 pieces of Griswold. They also had an extra 400 or so pieces that they held to sell or trade. They even constructed a room over their garage with reinforced floors to store their collection!
Doris and Bob’s connection to G&CICA
Doris and Bob were two of the 105 people who attended the April 1992 G&CICA organizational meeting set up by collectors Joannie and Joe Baldini, Sally and Jim Swanson, and Larry and Sue Foxx.
Doris and Bob’s dedication to G&CICA extended beyond collecting. In addition to handling the group’s newsletter, Doris served as secretary for five years and participated on the historical and appraisal committees. Bob was vice president of G&CICA for four years and served on the finance and audit committees. They both also served on the site committee for G&CICA for many years, as they recognized the value of local chapters and having national conventions in different locations to broaden the association’s reach and maintain interest beyond the Erie area.
Doris and Bob were also charter members of the West Coast, Northeast, and Dixie chapters and attended each meeting as often as possible. Together, they attended 27 national G&CICA conventions.
Doris is a treasure trove of historical information about G&CICA, vintage cast iron, and Griswold. Her extensive knowledge and eagerness to share make her an invaluable resource for all cast iron collectors. Her contributions have enriched the association and its members’ understanding of our shared history.
Doris’s favorite vintage cast iron
Doris is particularly fond of Griswold Quaker Ware—black-and-white enameled pieces—and miniature pups. Bob liked tobacco cutters with advertising on them, especially if the advertising was local. He also enjoyed collecting skillets.
Doris loved finding bargains. Once, she bought a plant stand with Griswold markings for $100 and was thrilled because she knew it was worth much more. She also found a sweet Griswold number three red enameled skillet with a lid for just $25.
Doris’s favorite thing to cook in cast iron
Without hesitation, Doris told me that her favorite thing to cook in cast iron is upside-down pineapple cake. Her best tip? If you don’t want to make it from scratch, she says that Dromedary cake mix is almost as good.
Soap or no soap?
Doris uses soap if she feels that soap is needed when cleaning her cast iron.
A story from Doris
Doris and Bob traveled from Pennsylvania to Oklahoma to purchase a man’s collection of about 18 vintage cast iron pups. She was primarily interested in the man’s hard-to-find Kaiser-Frazer[2] pup.
However, when they arrived to buy the man’s collection, Doris immediately saw that the Kaiser-Frazer pup was not there. She asked about it, suspecting the man may be trying to keep it for himself. He hesitated, saying he “might” have left it in the car.
She told the man there would be no sale without the Kaiser-Frazer pup. Miraculously, the man located the pup.
Which leads to Doris’s…
…Advice for new collectors
Know what you are buying before you buy. Had Doris not known the value of the Kaiser-Frazer pup, she might have bought the man’s collection as initially presented to her.
Check every piece very carefully before buying. Buy quality pieces; don’t just buy anything you come across.
Finally, one of Doris’s critical pieces of advice for new collectors is to actively participate in the G&CICA and its chapter meetings. As she says, these meetings are about collecting, sharing knowledge and insights, and forming friendships.
[1] Doris sold the website to the author of this article in around 2018. You can find some of Doris’s writings on this site by searching the categories for “Posts by Doris.”
[2] Kaiser-Frazer was an American automobile company that was in business (using that name) from around 1945-early 1950s.
