The Bedrock: Arcole Iron Works Gypsy Pot
Pre 1905 Cast Iron, Ohio Cast Iron, Hollow Ware, SSC Museum Collection Steve Thaman Pre 1905 Cast Iron, Ohio Cast Iron, Hollow Ware, SSC Museum Collection Steve Thaman

The Bedrock: Arcole Iron Works Gypsy Pot

In 1834, the Arcole Iron Works in Madison Township, Ohio was the largest industry in the state — producing 1,500 tons of iron annually, sustaining a port community larger than Cleveland. This gypsy pot carries the W.S. & Co. mark of the Wilkeson and Seeley partnership that ran the foundry during those peak years. The mark has worn with 190 years of honest existence. It is still there. Most people who collect cast iron will never hold one of these in their lifetime.

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Greer & King Mfg. Co. No. 8 Three-Legged Bail Bean Pot Kettle
Pre-1905 Collection, Ohio Cast Iron, Hollow Ware, SSC Museum Collection Steve Thaman Pre-1905 Collection, Ohio Cast Iron, Hollow Ware, SSC Museum Collection Steve Thaman

Greer & King Mfg. Co. No. 8 Three-Legged Bail Bean Pot Kettle

The Greer & King Mfg. Co. of Dayton, Ohio received their patent on November 3, 1868 — three years after the Civil War ended, when Reconstruction was still unfinished and the western frontier had not yet closed. The bean pot sitting on these three iron legs predates Wagner by two decades and Griswold Erie by more than twenty years. This is the oldest patent-dated piece in the SSC Museum Collection, and one of the primary surviving physical records of a Dayton foundry that the standard reference databases have never documented.

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