The J. Peet Wax-Sealing Ladle: A Cincinnati Mark
The J. Peet Wax-Sealing Ladle: A Cincinnati Mark
Catalog No. SSC-UNK-LDL-PRES-001 | Cast-iron wax-sealing ladle | Cincinnati, Ohio (as cast)
Figure 1. Overall view of the cast-iron ladle: a shallow round bowl, tapered spout, and forked handle terminating in a rectangular lettered grip.
This small cast-iron utensil has a shallow circular bowl, an integral tapered spout, and a forked handle. The supplied photographs show raised lettering on the handle and grip, including “J PEET,” lettering in small lozenge-shaped panels around the hanging hole, and “CINCINNATI O.” The bowl is plain inside; the underside has a circular raised foot. Surface wear, casting texture, and minor edge abrasions are visible in the photographs. This research pass treats the object’s own lettering as the starting point, rather than treating the seller’s description as proof of a maker or date.
The central result has moved from a dead end to a specific, testable lead. A 2020 collector publication independently illustrated a closely related J PEET ladle and reported that no reference then located positively connected a J. Peet in Cincinnati to its manufacture. A subsequent, targeted research pass located a specific Cincinnati resident — John T. Peet, listed in an 1886 city directory as superintendent at "n.e.c. 9th and Harriet," the documented site of the Redway & Burton stove works — whose name, role, and location are all consistent with the marked ladle. This is a promising lead, not a confirmed attribution, and the sections below lay out exactly what is and is not established.
Finding the Maker Mark
The research began with a transcription of the visible cast lettering, then searched for the exact maker-name and place combination in publicly indexed material, as well as for patent records and digitized Cincinnati directory holdings. No primary record was located that identifies a Cincinnati founder, firm, or patent holder registered under the name "J. Peet" specifically. That absence, on its own, is a search result, not proof that no such record exists — and a promising lead surfaced once the search moved from patent indexes to the city directories themselves (see below).
A directly relevant secondary source is Joseph Zawadowski’s “Addendum to Part 1 of the Collecting Ladles, Scoops and Shovels,” published in the 2020 Griswold & Cast Iron Quarterly. It reports that photographs of a related ladle made the handle name readable as “J PEET,” identifies its bottom marking as Cincinnati, Ohio, and states that solid references positively linking a J. Peet in Cincinnati to these ladles had not been found as of that 2020 article. That absence has been narrowed, though not closed, by the directory research below.
Correction from our earlier write-up: A prior pass on this item reported an unsuccessful search of patent indexes and confirmed only that digitized Cincinnati directories exist, without searching their contents. This revision reports the result of actually searching those directories, detailed in the next section.
Figure 2. Profile view showing the bowl’s conical exterior, circular foot, sharp pouring spout, and the two arms that form the forked handle.
A New Lead: John T. Peet, Superintendent at Ninth and Harriet
A systematic search of digitized Williams’ Cincinnati Directory pages, run specifically to test whether a J. Peet could be tied to a Cincinnati foundry, located a directory entry reading:
“Peet John T. supt. n.e.c. 9th and Harriet, res. Glendale”
Source: Williams’ Cincinnati Directory [1886, June], p. 1057 (digitized page image, Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library digital directory collection).
This is a genuine primary-source find, and it is specific in three ways that matter for this object: the surname matches the casting exactly, the given title ("supt.," superintendent) places him in a manufacturing role rather than as an unrelated resident, and the street corner named — Ninth and Harriet — is independently documented as the site of a Cincinnati stove foundry during this period.
An 1891 pictorial guidebook to the city states that "The Stove Works of Redway & Burton are situated at Ninth and Harriet Streets", and other period sources confirm the firm occupied that corner as manufacturers of cooking and heating stoves, hollow ware, and kettles under trademarks including "Charter Oak."
Trademark and patent records independently confirm Redway & Burton was an active Cincinnati stove and hollow-ware manufacturer in this period, registering the "Charter Oak" trademark for stoves on June 20, 1871, and holding U.S. patents for a cooking stove and a kettle-tilting device (Digest of Trade-Marks Registered in the United States, 1893; castironcollector.com Patent Database).
None of these three sources mentions J. Peet or John T. Peet by name in connection with Redway & Burton specifically — the directory entry, the guidebook, and the trademark/patent record were located independently and are being connected here only by shared address and date. That connection is plausible and worth flagging clearly, but it has not been confirmed by a single source naming both the man and the firm together, and it does not by itself establish that Peet owned the firm, held a patent, or had his name cast onto its wares. A superintendent role is a supervisory manufacturing position, not necessarily an ownership or pattern-naming role — hollow-ware and stove businesses of this era did sometimes cast a superintendent’s or foreman’s name onto smaller specialty items, but that practice has not been confirmed for Redway & Burton specifically in this pass.
What Still Needs Confirmation
· The identity match itself: That the "J PEET" cast on this ladle and the "John T. Peet" of the 1886 directory entry are the same person. The surname and Cincinnati location match; the given name on the object is abbreviated to a single initial, so the match is consistent but not conclusive from the casting alone.
· The employer link: That Redway & Burton, or any Ninth-and-Harriet firm, actually produced or sold wax-sealing ladles, and that Peet’s superintendent role extended to this specific product. No trade catalog, advertisement, or patent record found in this pass shows Redway & Burton making wax ladles.
· The nature of the mark: Whether "J PEET" on the ladle names an owner, a pattern-maker, a foundry foreman, a retailer, or someone else entirely. A superintendent’s name appearing on a small cast item, rather than the company’s own name, would itself be somewhat unusual and is not yet explained by any source located here.
The next concrete step is to search for John T. Peet across additional Williams’ Cincinnati Directory years (both earlier and later than 1886) to establish how long he held that position, and to search period Cincinnati newspapers and Redway & Burton trade catalogs for any mention of a wax ladle or preserve-sealing product line.
Who Were the Makers?
A tentative biography can now be sketched for John T. Peet, though it remains unconnected to the ladle by any single confirming source. In 1886 he held the title of superintendent at the northeast corner of Ninth and Harriet Streets in Cincinnati — the same corner independently documented as the site of the Redway & Burton stove and hollow-ware works — and he resided in Glendale, a village north of the city.
“Peet John T. supt. n.e.c. 9th and Harriet, res. Glendale”
Source: Williams’ Cincinnati Directory [1886, June], p. 1057 — Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library digital directory collection.
· Name on the object: “J PEET” is visible in the supplied photographs; the expanded personal name is not verified against the object itself.
· Possible identity: John T. Peet, superintendent, Cincinnati, documented in the 1886 city directory — unverified as the same "J. Peet" named on the ladle.
· Possible employer: A stove and hollow-ware works at Ninth and Harriet Streets, independently documented as operated by Redway & Burton in this period — not confirmed as Peet’s employer by any source naming both.
· Operating window: Unknown for the ladle itself. Redway & Burton is documented as operating through the 1870s–1880s before its reported 1890 sale and relocation to St. Paul, Minnesota, as the St. Paul Stove Works — a company history reported in collector accounts that has not been independently verified against a primary source in this pass.
Cincinnati in Context
Redway & Burton was a real and, by the standards of the 1870s national stove trade, substantial Cincinnati manufacturer: an 1874 national stove-industry survey lists the firm with 2,400 tons of annual output, and it held its own U.S. patents and registered trademark. If John T. Peet is confirmed as connected to this firm, the ladle would sit within a well-documented corner of Cincinnati’s stove and hollow-ware industry rather than an entirely undocumented one. That confirmation, however, still requires a source naming Peet and the firm together, or naming Peet and the ladle together — neither has been found yet.
A national stove-industry compilation for 1874 lists Redway & Burton’s Cincinnati works among the larger producers of the era (secondary compilation; original source not verified in this pass): The Stove Industry in 1874.
The Lozenge Lettering: A Related Ladle Offers a Lead
The handle grip carries small lozenge-shaped panels with lettering that reads backward/mirror-image, a detail consistent with a stamp meant to be pressed into softened wax rather than simply read on the metal. This research pass located a directly relevant piece of collector documentation on that exact question, though it concerns a different (but related) ladle in the same collector’s holdings, not this one.
In Part 1 of “Collecting Ladles, Scoops and Shovels,” published in the 2020 Griswold & Cast Iron Quarterly, Joseph Zawadowski describes a sealing wax ladle in his own collection with incised, mirror-image words inside lozenge-shaped panels around the hanging hole. He read them as PEAR, RASP. B., and BLACK B. on the top of the handle, and PEACH, PLUM, and TOMATO on the bottom. He writes that he believes the lozenges "were to be pressed into the wax seal, leaving a raised-letter, readable word," and concludes that "the marking on this one certainly indicate[s] it was associated with food preserves."
“I think this is because the lozenges were to be pressed into the wax seal, leaving a raised-letter, readable word... The marking on this one certainly indicate it was associated with food preserves.”
Source: Joseph Zawadowski, “Collecting Ladles, Scoops and Shovels, Part 1,” Griswold & Cast Iron Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 3 (2020), pp. 13–14.
This is a secondary, collector-authored interpretation of a different but closely related object, not a period advertisement, instruction sheet, patent, or a labeled original container. It has not been verified against any of those primary-source types, and it does not by itself confirm what this specific ladle’s lozenge lettering says or was for. It is included here as the most directly relevant lead found for the "Still open" question below. If Redway & Burton or an associated hollow-ware works is eventually confirmed as the maker, its documented trademark and patent activity in stoves and kettles would make a small preserve-sealing accessory a plausible, though still unconfirmed, sideline product.
Correction from our earlier write-up: An earlier version of this post transcribed a handle marking on this ladle as the word "PRESERVES." Neither this nor the prior research pass located primary-source confirmation of that exact word appearing on this object. The marking is now described as lozenge-panel lettering whose specific text could not be fully confirmed from the supplied photographs, with the related ladle’s documented lozenge wording above cited as an unverified lead rather than as this object’s confirmed wording.
Figure 3. Close detail of the rectangular grip and forked handle; the raised lettering is the principal attribution evidence available on the object.
Why This Piece Does Not Fully Appear in Standard References
This research located a collector-journal discussion of the J PEET-marked ladle and, separately, a specific Cincinnati directory entry for a John T. Peet in a manufacturing supervisory role at a documented stove-works address. Neither source names the other, and no trade catalog, patent, or newspaper notice found in this pass explicitly connects a Peet to wax-ladle manufacture. The gap has narrowed from "no lead found" to "a specific, testable lead not yet confirmed," which is itself a meaningful research result without overstating what is proven.
Figure 4. Interior view of the shallow bowl and spout; the plain interior and narrow pouring channel are shown without a separate removable component.
Updated Piece Details
· Manufacturer: Not verified; J PEET is a casting mark. A possible link to a Cincinnati stove/hollow-ware works at Ninth and Harriet Streets (documented as operated by Redway & Burton) is an unverified lead based on a directory entry for a superintendent named John T. Peet.
· Company founded: Not verified for any firm connected to this ladle. Redway & Burton is documented in national stove-trade sources as operating by the early 1870s; its founding date has not been independently confirmed in this pass.
· Company closed: Not verified for any firm connected to this ladle. Collector accounts report Redway & Burton was sold in 1890 and relocated to St. Paul, Minnesota, as the St. Paul Stove Works; this has not been confirmed against a primary source in this pass.
· Peak size / scale: Not documented for any firm connected to this ladle specifically. An 1874 national stove-industry compilation lists Redway & Burton’s annual output at roughly 2,400 tons, but this figure describes the general stove works, not any wax-ladle product line.
· Piece type: Cast-iron wax-sealing ladle with pouring spout and lettered handle.
· Size/model: No size or pattern number visible in the supplied photographs.
· Casting/maker’s marks: “J PEET”; small lozenge-panel lettering (partly illegible in the supplied photographs; a related ladle in the collecting literature carries comparable mirror-image fruit-name lozenges — see above); “CINCINNATI O.” (transcribed from supplied photographs as closely as photography permits).
· Associated patent (if any): Not verified for this object. No patent naming any Peet was located. Redway & Burton held U.S. patents for a cooking stove and a kettle-tilting device (1872), unrelated in subject matter to wax ladles; these are noted for context only, not as evidence about this object.
· Patent subject (verified): Not applicable; no patent has been confirmed as associated with this specific object.
· Relationship to maker: Unverified. If the John T. Peet identified in the 1886 directory is the same person named on the ladle, his documented role was superintendent of a manufacturing works — not confirmed as owner, patentee, or pattern-namer of this specific product.
· Date of manufacture: Unknown; no dated primary source or catalog directly describing this ladle has been located. The 1886 directory entry for John T. Peet establishes only that a person of that surname held a Cincinnati manufacturing supervisory role in that year, not a manufacture date for the object.
· Place of manufacture: Not verified beyond the object’s own “CINCINNATI O.” marking.
· SSC catalog no.: SSC-UNK-LDL-PRES-001.
· Acquisition: eBay, seller wayne1833, June 28, 2026.
Open Questions for Further Research
In keeping with our stated research standard—document what is verified, flag what is not—here is what this pass could confirm, and what still needs primary-source verification:
· Confirmed: The supplied object photographs show the cast markings “J PEET” and “CINCINNATI O.,” along with lozenge-panel lettering on the handle grip. The 2020 G&CICA article independently records J PEET and Cincinnati, Ohio on a related wax ladle. A Williams’ Cincinnati Directory entry for 1886 lists "Peet John T. supt. n.e.c. 9th and Harriet, res. Glendale" (Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library digital directory collection). Independent sources confirm the Redway & Burton stove and hollow-ware works occupied Ninth and Harriet Streets in Cincinnati during this general period and held its own registered trademark ("Charter Oak," 1871) and U.S. patents (1872).
· Unverified — needs primary confirmation: That John T. Peet of the 1886 directory is the same "J. Peet" named on this ladle, and that he — or the Ninth-and-Harriet works generally — made, sold, or was otherwise responsible for producing wax-sealing ladles. No source located in this pass names Peet and Redway & Burton together, or names Peet and any wax-ladle product together. Confirmation would require a Redway & Burton trade catalog or advertisement listing a wax-ladle product, a directory or newspaper item explicitly linking Peet to that firm by name, or a patent or business record showing Peet’s ownership or design role in such a product. A search across additional Williams’ Cincinnati Directory years (before and after 1886) to establish Peet’s full career and any documented company affiliation is the clearest concrete next step.
· Still open: What the lozenge-panel lettering on the handle was intended to do in use. No period advertisement, instruction sheet, patent, or original labeled container naming or illustrating this specific ladle’s lozenge text was located. The closest available lead is Joseph Zawadowski’s account of a different, related ladle in his own collection bearing mirror-image lozenge lettering reading PEAR, RASP. B., BLACK B. (top) and PEACH, PLUM, TOMATO (bottom), which he interprets as intended to be pressed into a wax seal to leave a raised, readable fruit name identifying a jar’s contents (Griswold & Cast Iron Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 3, 2020). This is a secondary, collector-authored interpretation of a different object, not a verified primary source describing this ladle. It remains an open question whether this ladle’s own lozenge lettering served the same purpose, and a period advertisement, instruction sheet, patent, or an original labeled container would be needed to resolve it with primary-source confirmation.
Why This Still Matters
A careful catalog entry can preserve what the iron itself says while keeping the unanswered questions visible. The J PEET, lozenge-panel, and CINCINNATI O. marks — combined with the newly located directory entry for a Cincinnati superintendent of that surname — give future researchers a specific, testable line of inquiry rather than a dead end. Until a source directly connects John T. Peet, or any other Peet, to this ladle’s manufacture, the responsible attribution remains a J PEET-marked Cincinnati-associated wax-sealing ladle, with a documented but unconfirmed lead toward the Ninth-and-Harriet stove-works district of the city.
Sources
• Joseph Zawadowski, “Addendum to Part 1 of the Collecting Ladles, Scoops and Shovels,” Griswold & Cast Iron Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 4 (2020), p. 11 (secondary source; flags the maker connection as unresolved as of 2020).
• Joseph Zawadowski, “Collecting Ladles, Scoops and Shovels, Part 1,” Griswold & Cast Iron Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 3 (2020), pp. 13–14 (secondary source; describes a related ladle’s fruit-name lozenge lettering as an unverified interpretation).
• Collector accounts (unverified secondary source) describing Redway & Burton’s 1890 sale and relocation to St. Paul, Minnesota, as the St. Paul Stove Works:r/Antiques and r/castiron discussion threads (flagged as needing primary confirmation).
• SSC internal records: supplied object photographs and acquisition invoice, SSC-UNK-LDL-PRES-001.
