W.C. Davis & Co. Cast Iron Waffle Iron with Low Base
A complete W.C. Davis & Co. cast iron waffle iron with original low base — both paddles, both handles, functioning hinge, original base — marked W.C. DAVIS & CO / CINCINNATI O and dating to the firm's active name period, c. 1842–1880. W.C. Davis & Co. is the Cincinnati foundry from which the Favorite stove and hollow-ware line descended. This iron predates the Favorite era
Yourtee, Hollister & Co. Cast-Iron Stove-Top Kettle | Dated 1871 | Cincinnati, Ohio
Cast-iron stove-top tea kettle bearing the raised markings YOURTEE HOLLISTER & CO. / CINCINNATI O. / 1871, with a No. 6 marking at the spout. Contemporary Cincinnati directories identify Yourtee, Hollister & Co. as manufacturers of stoves, hollow ware, and castings and as proprietors of Miami Stove Works, with their foundry at California, Hamilton County, Ohio and their Cincinnati office and warerooms at 94 West Second Street.
The firm's connection to the California foundry can be traced to Nicholas Patterson & Co., whose earlier Miami Foundry manufactured stoves, hollow ware, and castings at California. Yourtee, Hollister & Co. advertised itself in 1871 as successor to N. Patterson & Co.
The partnership was dissolved effective January 1, 1874, by limitation and mutual consent. Samuel L. Yourtee, N. H. Sinclair, and T. G. Randall Jr. immediately formed Yourtee, Sinclair & Randall to continue the stove-foundry business; Hudson Hollister did not join the successor partnership.
The 1871 marking is original physical evidence on the kettle and is consistent with the documented operation of Yourtee, Hollister & Co. that year. However, no surviving catalog or production record has yet been located proving precisely what the date signified or identifying the exact production history of this particular No. 6 kettle. The evidence strongly supports manufacture within Yourtee, Hollister & Co.'s documented California, Ohio foundry operation; it does not support the former attribution to Lawrenceburg, Indiana
The Kingery Mfg. Co. No. 20 Conical Ice Cream Scoop
Before the modern spring-loaded scoop, there was the Kingery. This No. 20 conical ice cream disher was manufactured by the Kingery Manufacturing Company of Cincinnati, Ohio — the firm that started as hokey-pokey ice cream vendors in 1879 and grew into a manufacturer of peanut roasters, popcorn machines, and steam-powered vending wagons sold across the country. Their conical scoop, patented September 4, 1894, was the first ice cream disher designed for one-handed use — a revolution in soda fountain speed. Three Kingery machines are on display at the Wyandot Popcorn Museum in Marion, Ohio. Acquired from eBay seller mod50s, March 2026.
The H.S. Pease Coal-Heated Charcoal Sad Iron
Before the electric iron, pressing clothes required fire. This charcoal box iron bears the mark "H.S. PEASE" and "CINC'TI, O." cast in raised letters on the lid rim — the product of Horace S. Pease, a Cincinnati inventor who held multiple U.S. patents for charcoal iron improvements between the 1880s and 1907. His signature innovation was the combination charcoal iron and fluter — a single tool for both pressing and pleating. Acquired from eBay seller tsp8ntball5hnf, March 2026.