Superior Foundry Inc. Miniature Cast Iron Melting Bowl
SSC MUSEUM COLLECTION
Catalog No. SSC-SUPERIOR-BWL-1930-001
Miniature Melting Bowl / Ladle | Cleveland, Ohio
Circa 1920s–1950s • Superior Foundry Inc.
Bottom marking: “SUPERIOR FDRY. INC. / CLEVELAND OHIO” cast in a full circular arrangement around the base. The marking is crisp and fully legible. The compact bowl form with integral flat handle identifies this as a miniature melting vessel or salesman’s sample.
Superior Foundry Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio was not a household name—and that is precisely what makes it important. While Wagner, Griswold, and Lodge dominated the consumer cookware market, companies like Superior quietly produced the cast iron that kept American households, workshops, and offices functioning: boot jacks for pulling off muddy boots, candlestick holders for lighting parlors, trivets for protecting tabletops, skillets for cooking, and pieces like this miniature melting bowl whose exact purpose—salesman’s sample, utility vessel, advertising premium—reflects the versatility of a foundry that could cast anything its customers needed.
What sets Superior Foundry apart from most forgotten Cleveland foundries is its documented prominence within the American foundry industry itself. Two Superior Foundry executives served as president of the American Foundry Society—the national trade organization for the casting industry: Walter L. Seelbach in 1951–1952 and Albert L. Hunt in 1961–1962. A company whose leaders ran the national industry organization was not a marginal operation. Superior was a significant Cleveland foundry with national standing, and yet today its products are described by collectors as “very difficult to find” and its corporate history is almost entirely undocumented in the collector literature.
This is the second Cleveland foundry piece in the SSC “Cleveland’s Forgotten Foundries” grouping documented in recent acquisitions, joining the Lake City Malleable No. 5 casting ladle. Together, they represent two distinct Cleveland foundry operations—one producing malleable iron utensils and advertising figurines, the other producing a full line of cast iron household goods and industrial items—both now forgotten, both now documented in the SSC collection.
Piece Details
Profile view showing the deep hemispherical bowl and the flat integral handle. The piece is miniature in scale—likely a salesman’s sample or small utility vessel for melting lead, wax, or other low-temperature materials. The casting quality is clean and even, consistent with a well-equipped mid-twentieth-century foundry.
Manufacturer
Superior Foundry Inc.
Piece Type
Miniature Melting Bowl / Ladle (possible salesman’s sample)
Material
Cast Iron
Marking (Bottom)
SUPERIOR FDRY. INC. / CLEVELAND OHIO (circular arrangement)
Handle
Flat integral handle, no hanging hole
Bowl Configuration
Deep hemispherical bowl; no pour spout
Date of Manufacture
Circa 1920s–1950s (estimated from “Inc.” designation and casting style)
Place of Manufacture
Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Condition
Very Good — legible circular marking; intact bowl and handle; original surface; no cracks
Acquisition Date
March 1, 2026
Acquisition Source
eBay — Seller: gold1355
eBay Item Number
327014425942
Order Number
05-14314-75707
Purchase Price
$10.50 item + $7.99 shipping + $1.57 tax = $20.06 total
SSC Catalog Number
SSC-SUPERIOR-BWL-1930-001
Top view showing the interior of the miniature bowl. The deep hemispherical form and the flat handle suggest a small melting or pouring vessel. The interior surface is clean and dark, with the even texture of a well-cast piece.
A Foundry That Led the Industry
The American Foundry Society—originally the American Foundrymen’s Association, later the American Foundrymen’s Society—is the national trade organization for the metal casting industry in the United States. Its presidency is the highest honor in the American foundry profession, awarded to the leaders of the most respected casting operations in the country. Superior Foundry of Cleveland placed two executives in that chair: Walter L. Seelbach served as AFS president in 1951–1952, and Albert L. Hunt served in 1961–1962. His son, Charles F. Seelbach Jr. of Forest City Foundries—also in Cleveland—served as AFS president in 1967–1968, extending the family’s and the city’s influence over the national foundry industry across two decades.
That a Cleveland foundry whose consumer products are now described as “very difficult to find” could have produced two presidents of the national foundry organization tells you everything about how completely a company’s industrial significance can be erased from the consumer record. Superior Foundry was not obscure in its own time. It was a leader. But it produced the kind of iron that people used and discarded—boot jacks, trivets, melting bowls—rather than the kind of iron that collectors preserved. The SSC collection exists precisely to recover the stories of companies like this.
Cleveland’s Forgotten Foundries: Building the Map
The SSC “Cleveland’s Forgotten Foundries” grouping now includes Superior Foundry Inc. alongside Lake City Malleable Co., Madison Foundry Co., and Cleveland Foundry Co. Each represents a different facet of Cleveland’s cast iron heritage: Lake City Malleable produced kitchen utensils and decorative advertising figurines; Superior produced a full line of household cast iron and had national industry leadership; Madison and Cleveland Foundry represent additional threads in the Cuyahoga County story that SSC is reconstructing piece by piece.
Cleveland’s foundry heritage is typically invisible in the cast iron collector community, which focuses overwhelmingly on the big-name cookware manufacturers: Wagner (Sidney), Griswold (Erie), Lodge (South Pittsburg), and Favorite (Piqua). But Cleveland’s industrial base supported dozens of foundry operations that produced marked iron—iron that survives when the companies, their records, and their workers are gone. The SSC collection is building the most comprehensive documentation of Cleveland’s cast iron foundries available in the private collector literature, one marked piece at a time.
Historical Context: Superior Foundry Inc.
c.1910
Superior Foundry operating in Cleveland, Ohio. A 1910 Brown Hoisting Machine advertisement references the company, confirming early-twentieth-century activity.
1920s–50s
Superior produces a full line of cast iron products: boot jacks, candlestick holders, trivets, skillets, and miniature items like this melting bowl. Products carry the “SUPERIOR FDRY. INC. / CLEVELAND OHIO” circular marking.
1951–52
Walter L. Seelbach of Superior Foundry serves as president of the American Foundry Society, the national trade organization for the casting industry.
1961–62
Albert L. Hunt of Superior Foundry serves as AFS president, making Superior the only foundry to place two executives in the chair within a decade.
c.1960s–?
Superior Foundry’s closure date is not documented in the collector literature. The company appears to have ceased operations at some point after the 1960s.
2026
Steve’s Seasoned Classics acquires this miniature melting bowl, documenting it as SSC-SUPERIOR-BWL-1930-001 and adding it to the Cleveland’s Forgotten Foundries grouping.
Why This Piece Matters
The Superior Foundry miniature melting bowl is a small piece with a large story. At $20.06 all-in, it is one of the least expensive pieces in the SSC collection. But it represents a Cleveland foundry whose executives led the national foundry industry—a company that was anything but minor in its own time, and whose products are now among the most difficult to find in the collector market. The gap between Superior’s industrial significance and its collector obscurity is exactly the kind of gap the SSC collection exists to close.
This piece also demonstrates the SSC principle that the size and price of an object have no relationship to its historical importance. A ten-dollar miniature bowl from a foundry whose leaders ran the American Foundry Society tells a story as significant as any skillet in the collection. The marking is the evidence. The research is the context. The documentation is the preservation. And the SSC collection gives this small piece of Cleveland iron a permanent public record that it would not otherwise have.
The iron endures. The markings tell the truth. The story deserves to be told.
Sources & Further Reading
American Foundry Society (Wikipedia) — Presidential roster: Walter L. Seelbach of Superior Foundry (1951–1952) and Albert L. Hunt of Superior Foundry (1961–1962).
WorthPoint.com — Superior Foundry Inc. Cleveland, Ohio boot jack listing: confirms product range and Cleveland location.
Pinterest / Cast Iron Collector community — Superior #11 Cleveland Foundry skillet: “Located in Cleveland, Ohio, the Superior foundry produced a full line of cookware, as well as household items. There is not much information on this Foundry, but their items are very difficult to find.”
eBay historical listings — Superior Foundry Inc. candlestick holders, turtle trivet, and 1910 Brown Hoisting Machine advertisement referencing Superior Foundry Cleveland.
About Steve’s Seasoned Classics
Steve’s Seasoned Classics is an online museum dedicated to preserving and documenting the heritage of American cast iron, with a focus on Ohio foundry pieces from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The SSC collection features over 130 pieces with detailed provenance, historical research, and photography for each item.
