Favorite Piqua Ware No. 3 Skillet — Unmarked, Two-Dot Attribution
Most cast iron announces itself. This No. 3 doesn't. The base is completely unmarked — no Smiley cartouche, no size numeral, no trade name. What it carries instead is two small dots near the handle junction and a set of physical characteristics that, taken together, build a credible case for Favorite Piqua Ware attribution: the right heat ring profile, the right handle geometry, the right casting character for the Piqua foundry floor of 1916–1935. The dots are documented. The attribution is stated as inferential, not confirmed. That's how honest collection documentation works.
Favorite Piqua Ware No. 8A Skillet — Smiley / Miami Dual Logo
The No. 8 is where every Favorite Piqua Ware collection begins — the workhorse size, the most produced, the most familiar. This one carries something the standard No. 8A doesn't: the dual-logo configuration, with the Smiley cartouche above and the Miami diamond below, both cast on the same base. Acquired as a provenance-linked pair with the companion No. 7, it confirms that the dual marking crossed at least two sizes from the same foundry period. It also surfaces a detail the No. 7 alone couldn't reveal: the Miami diamond frame on this No. 8A is single-outline, while the No. 7's is double — a variation that raises questions the iron documents but doesn't yet answer.
Favorite Piqua Ware No. 7 Skillet — Smiley / Miami Dual Logo
Most Favorite Piqua Ware collectors know the Smiley logo. Fewer have held a piece that carries two marks — the Smiley cartouche above and the Miami diamond below, both cast into the same base, from the same foundry, on the same pour. This No. 7 is one of those pieces. The dual configuration documents something the single-logo specimens cannot: the moment where Favorite Stove & Range's parallel brand identities intersected, and the commercial logic that put two names on one skillet didn't fully resolve before the iron cooled.