Joannie Baldini
Joannie Baldini and her late husband Joe,1 of Erie, Pennsylvania, are two of the six founders of the Griswold & Cast Iron Cookware Association (GCICA), a national vintage and cast iron cookware collectors’ club. She and Joe began collecting vintage cast iron in 1988.
Joannie’s interest in vintage cast iron
Joannie has a long-standing interest in vintage and antique items. For many years, she and Joe owned an antique mall in Erie called the “Folly.”
Joannie’s interest expanded to include fine vintage cast iron cookware after her physician’s nurse—fellow GCICA founder Sally Swanson—suggested she begin cooking in cast iron to add iron to her diet.2
Sally invited Joannie to a local cast iron auction in February 1988 so Joannie could find some quality cast iron cookware, and Joannie’s interest was ignited. Just seven months later, Joannie and Joe had managed to amass over 500 pieces of vintage and antique cast iron cookware.
Joannie and Joe’s collection of vintage cast iron cookware
Joannie estimates that she and Joe had about 1500 pieces of vintage and antique cast iron at the height of collecting. Joannie was especially fond of Griswold’s early “Erie” cookware and other rare and hard-to-find pieces, while Joe was particularly interested in miniature pieces.
In addition to collecting cast iron, Joannie also studied its history and had a significant collection of ephemera related to Griswold. She appreciates that the ephemera provides an accurate source of historical information.
Even after all these years, Joannie still loves to collect a fine piece of Griswold, especially the trademark Griswold “diamond” pieces. She laughs when she tells how Joe didn’t buy her a diamond when they married in 1969, so she bought her own diamonds—Griswold diamonds, that is.
Joannie’s connection to GCICA
Through her work at the Folly and her local excursions with Joe hunting for cast iron cookware, Joannie and Joe connected with other people who shared their interest in Griswold cast iron, including Larry and Sue Foxx and Sally and Jim Swanson. They began discussing a possible group centered on their interest in vintage and antique cast iron.
To spread the word, they placed an ad in Antique Trader and the Times-Erie newspaper inviting people interested in Griswold cast iron to a swap meet and club discussion at the Asbury Barn in Erie on April 4, 1992.3 The event was successful, with 105 people attending the first meeting. People came to Erie from as far away as Oregon and Florida.
This meeting led to the formation of the Griswold & Cast Iron Cookware Association, with Joannie serving as the group’s first Secretary.
Joannie’s cast iron stories
Joannie shared many stories with me about Griswold and her relationships with people associated with Griswold. She has met two members of the Griswold family, explored the Griswold plant’s building in Erie, and even had the opportunity to visit Griswold’s last salesman, Orville Rector, at his home.
Joannie told me several stories about the August 11, 1951, Erie Centennial parade. Griswold had a large float in the Erie Centennial parade. Two ladies were seated on the float, representing 1851 and 1951.
Joannie met the lady who had been Miss 1951. At the time of the parade, she was a secretary working for Griswold. According to Miss 1951, she was told she would be Miss 1951 rather than volunteering for the role. Griswold provided her with period clothing and accessories and even had her hair done for the event.
Griswold made 3000 miniature cast iron pups for the event, and 2000 were distributed during the parade. Staff marching alongside the Griswold float gave away and rolled the little pups along the streets and sidewalks to the children waiting on the parade route.
Joannie told me that if you come across an authentic Griswold pup with a chip on its standing ear, it is probably one of the pups given out during the parade. Many pups’ ears were chipped when they were passed along the road.
Joannie also told me another way the pups were used – Griswold employees in the building’s basement threw the miniature cast iron pups at rats peeking out of holes in the wall!
Joannie’s favorite piece of vintage cast iron
Joannie told me that her favorite piece of vintage cast iron was the first Griswold number 2 skillet she found at an antique mall. She happily paid the asking price for the skillet—$8.50.
Soap or no soap?
Joannie looked horrified when I asked if she used soap to clean her cast iron. She most certainly does not!
Joannie says that almost anything can be cleaned off cast iron cookware by heating water in the pan on the stovetop and using a rubber scraper to scrape any remaining food from the skillet’s surface.
How Joannie cleans and seasons her iron
Joannie figures that she has cleaned about 10,000 pieces of iron. She uses a lye bath and seasons with olive oil. She doesn’t season her pieces in the oven anymore; she uses the stovetop.
Joannie shared a personal cautionary tale about using vinegar to remove rust from cast iron. Once you put the iron in the mixture, watch it; do not leave it there for an extended time!
Joannie reports that she had made a mix of half vinegar and half water and absentmindedly left a pan in the mixture for quite some time—she does not know how long, but it was weeks—and when she finally took it out, the pan’s handle actually twisted in her hand!
Joannie’s advice for new collectors
Joannie’s advice for new collectors is simple: don’t believe everything you hear. She warns that much misinformation about old cast iron cookware is passed around as fact. Be skeptical; ask to see the source of the information and verify the information you are given. Learn from and enjoy all of the wonderful collectors in the GCICA group.
Most of all, Joannie says, enjoy the iron and cook in it!
- Joe passed on September 9, 2022, after a lengthy illness.
- There is ongoing discussion about whether cooking in cast iron causes any appreciable amount of iron to leach into food. Joannie firmly believes that it has a considerable impact, as demonstrated by the increased iron levels in her blood test results once she started using cast iron to cook.
- The author could not reach a person at the Times-Erie newspaper to obtain permission to reprint one of the ads. One of the ads, from the March 29, 1992 newspaper, said, in part, “The Griswold Collectors are Coming! … First Annual Swap Meet and Griswold Collectors Club April 4 Asbury Barn by Reservation Only,” and listed phone numbers for Joannie Baldini and Sally Swanson.
