W.C. Davis & Co. Cincinnati Cast Iron Waffle Iron with Low Base — Ancestor of Favorite Piqua | Steve's Seasoned Classics

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SSC Museum Collection

The Ancestor of Favorite Piqua Ware — W.C. Davis & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio — c. 1842–1880

Marked: W.C. DAVIS & CO • CINCINNATI O

SSC Catalog No. SSC-WCDAVIS-WAF-1860-001

COMPLETE SET — Paddles + Original Low Base — Among Fewest Known Examples

SSC-WCDAVIS-WAF-1860-001 — Top view, closed. W.C. Davis & Co. cast iron waffle iron with original low base. The concentric ring design on the top paddle exterior and the low profile of the base are characteristic of mid-19th century stove-top waffle iron design. Complete three-piece set: two paddles and original matching base. W.C. Davis & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, c. 1842–1880.

Catalog Record

SSC Catalog No.: SSC-WCDAVIS-WAF-1860-001

Maker: W.C. Davis & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio

Object: Cast iron waffle iron with original matching low base — complete three-piece set

Marking: W.C. DAVIS & CO • CINCINNATI O — raised casting on upper paddle exterior

Period: c. 1842–1880 (active marking period for W.C. Davis & Co. name; works started 1842, name succeeded c. 1880)

Material: Cast iron throughout — paddles and base

Grid Pattern: Classic American square-grid with dot/nub pattern at each intersection — four quadrants divided by cross member — consistent with mid-19th century Cincinnati stove works production

Condition: Original surface throughout. No cracks. Hinge intact and functional. Low base original to the set. Paddles open and close as designed. Surface wear and oxidation consistent with 19th century age.

Completeness: COMPLETE — both paddles present with original handles, original matching low base, hinge intact. No missing components.

Acquisition: eBay, seller thriftworld — Order 08-14652-93413, Item 306934615737, May 17, 2026

Museum Collection: Pre-1905 Collection

Rarity Assessment: W.C. Davis & Co. waffle irons are among the rarest documented Cincinnati cast iron hollow ware pieces. The W.C. Davis name was in use only from the foundry’s origins through approximately 1880 — a window of less than 40 years. The SSC example is a COMPLETE set with original low base, which is itself the rarest configuration to survive. The only other W.C. Davis waffle iron documented in public collector records at time of SSC acquisition had a broken hinge and no base. This is very likely the finest known surviving example of a W.C. Davis & Co. waffle iron.

SSC-WCDAVIS-WAF-1860-001 — Maker’s mark detail. W.C. DAVIS & CO / CINCINNATI O cast in raised lettering in the annular ring of the upper paddle exterior. The marking is sharp and complete. This is one of fewer than a handful of W.C. Davis & Co. waffle irons documented in the collector record.

Physical Description

The W.C. Davis & Co. waffle iron is a complete three-piece cast iron set: two hinged paddles and an original matching low base. The set is circular in form, consistent with Cincinnati stove-top waffle iron production of the mid-nineteenth century.

The upper paddle exterior presents the maker’s mark in raised lettering arranged in an annular band around a central circular boss: W.C. DAVIS & CO arcs across the upper right, CINCINNATI arcs across the lower, and O follows at lower right — the standard abbreviation for Ohio used in Cincinnati ironwork of this period. The lettering is crisp and well-defined. The central boss and surrounding concentric ring create the characteristic profile of mid-19th century Cincinnati waffle iron design.

The interior cooking surfaces of both paddles present the classic American square-grid waffle pattern with raised dot or nub at each grid intersection, divided into four quadrants by a central cross member running both horizontally and vertically across the paddle face. This four-quadrant dot-grid pattern is documented across the W.C. Davis & Co. product line and appears in the collector literature as characteristic of the firm’s waffle iron production. The grid walls are well-defined and the dot pattern is consistent and complete across both paddle faces.

The hinge connecting the two paddles is cast iron, functioning as a fixed hinge that allows the paddles to open fully for loading and close completely for cooking. The hinge is intact and operational. The handles extend from the outer rim of each paddle and terminate in the loop form typical of 19th century Ohio stove-top waffle iron design. Both handles are present and undamaged.

The low base is the original matching base for this set. Low bases were designed for use on wood-burning stoves where the iron could rotate over an open stove eye without clearance obstruction from a tall base. The base carries the iron at cooking height over the stove eye and provides the rotational pivot that allowed the cook to flip the iron during cooking without removing it from the stove. Finding a W.C. Davis waffle iron with its original base intact is, based on the documented collector record, extraordinarily rare. Finding one with both paddles, both handles, functioning hinge, and original base — as a complete set — may be without parallel in the public record.

SSC-WCDAVIS-WAF-1860-001 — Paddles open, cooking surfaces visible. The classic American square-grid pattern with raised dot at each intersection, divided into four quadrants by the central cross member, is clearly visible on both paddle faces. The pattern is consistent and complete across both cooking surfaces. The hinge mechanism is visible at right.

The Maker: W.C. Davis & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio

Origins: Hunt Street, 1842

The works that would become W.C. Davis & Co. were started in 1842 by William C. Davis on Hunt Street in Cincinnati, employing approximately 100 men from the outset. This was not a small operation finding its footing — it was a substantial iron manufacturing enterprise from day one, positioned within what a contemporary Cincinnati industrial account described as one of the most extensive branches of the iron industry in a city that held “acknowledged superiority over all rival points” in stove manufacturing.

The works moved over the following decades as they grew: first to the corner of Pearl and Butler Streets, then in 1861 to Front Street below Baker Street, and finally in 1878 to a new location that would serve the Favorite Stove Works era. Each move reflected expansion rather than retreat. By the time W.C. Davis registered the “Favorite” trademark in June 1878, the firm had been continuously operating for thirty-six years.

William C. Davis was a Cincinnati industrialist with a broad commercial reach. Beyond iron stoves and hollow ware, Davis held a patent for metallic burial cases — metal caskets — which he sold along with the patent to Crane, Breed and Co. (a firm that still exists). He published newspapers under Davis and Co. in his earlier years. The historical record describes him as a man with “a knack for either creating ventures or buying them — and then selling them.” The W.C. Davis & Co. name on cast iron hollow ware represents the stove and cookware branch of this broader industrial career.

The Foundry’s Place in Cincinnati Iron

Cincinnati in the mid-nineteenth century was the dominant stove-making city in the American Midwest. The Ohio River gave the city access to pig iron from southern Ohio and Kentucky furnaces; the canal system connected it to the grain markets that drove demand for kitchen equipment; and a dense community of German immigrant craftsmen and mechanics provided the skilled foundry labor that made precision casting possible. W.C. Davis & Co. operated at the heart of this industrial environment, described in contemporary accounts as a leading and powerful agency in building up the stove trade of a city whose iron reputation extended across a territory as wide as any other American manufacturing center of the era.

The WAGs (Wagner and Griswold Society) compiled foundry list confirms W.C. Davis & Co., Cin’ti O. as a documented producer of skillets, gem pans, tea kettles, waffle irons, and dutch ovens. The Cast Iron Collector foundry database includes the firm. Collector and researcher literature on Favorite Piqua Ware universally traces the company’s lineage back to W.C. Davis & Co. as the founding entity from which the entire Favorite line descended. Despite this documented lineage, surviving W.C. Davis & Co. marked pieces are exceptionally rare in the collector record. The firm operated under the W.C. Davis & Co. name for less than forty years; the name disappears from marked hollow ware when the Favorite Stove Works succeeded it around 1880.

The Corporate Lineage: W.C. Davis to Favorite Piqua

The succession from W.C. Davis & Co. to Favorite Piqua Ware is one of the most important corporate genealogies in Ohio cast iron history, and it runs directly through the SSC piece. The timeline, reconstructed from Cincinnati city directories, newspaper accounts, trademark records, and collector research, is as follows:

• c. 1842 — W.C. Davis & Co. starts stove works on Hunt Street, Cincinnati, with approximately 100 employees

• 1865 — Company reorganizes; Great Western Stove Works name appears in Cincinnati directories under W.C. Davis as proprietor

• 1872 — W.K. Boal purchases the stove foundry from W.C. Davis; enters partnership with Samuel P. Cheseldine

• 1878 — W.C. Davis registers the “Favorite” trademark (USPTO). Works move to new location.

• c. 1879–1880 — “Favorite Stove Works” name appears; W.C. Davis & Co. name begins to recede from marked hollow ware

• 1882 — Favorite Stove Works Company organized as stock company with W.K. Boal as President and Samuel P. Cheseldine as Secretary/Treasurer; succeeds W.C. Davis and Co.

• 1888–1889 — Boal moves Favorite Stove Works Company to Piqua, Ohio, citing natural gas fuel savings. Favorite Stove and Range Company commences operations in Piqua week of February 18, 1889.

• 1892 — W.C. Davis bought out by “Captain A.G. West” of A.G. West and Son

• 1916 — Boal’s son expands hollow ware production; the Favorite Piqua Ware cookware line reaches its peak

• 1934–1935 — Great Depression forces closure; Favorite Piqua Ware line sold to Chicago Hardware Foundry Co.

Every piece of Favorite Piqua Ware ever cast — every skillet, every dutch oven, every waffle iron bearing the Favorite sunrise logo — traces its institutional DNA back to the foundry that W.C. Davis started on Hunt Street in 1842. The SSC waffle iron predates all of it. It is the root of that family tree in physical form.

What W.C. Davis Marked Hollow Ware Looks Like in the Record

Collector documentation of W.C. Davis & Co. marked pieces is sparse, which itself is evidence of rarity. The WAGs foundry list confirms the firm made waffle irons. The Cast Iron Collector site includes W.C. Davis in its foundry database. The Booniehicks Favorite Piqua research guide states: “We know W.C. Davis & Co. produced skillets” and acknowledges the firm’s hollow ware production, while noting that most collector-familiar Favorite pieces date to post-1916. Three examples of W.C. Davis Company cast iron, dated circa 1848–1865, are documented in collector reference photography. A 13-cup gem pan described as “very rare and unique” has been documented. Skillets bearing the W.C. Davis Cinci’ti O marking have been documented and are described universally as rare. A waffle iron with a broken hinge and no base has been documented on eBay, described as Civil War era, c. 1848–1888, and noted as “rare.” The SSC piece — complete, with original low base, hinge intact — appears to be the finest documented surviving example.

Rarity Assessment: Why This Is Among the Most Significant Pieces in the SSC Collection

Several factors converge to make this piece exceptional within the SSC collection and within the broader Ohio cast iron collector record.

The Marking Window Is Narrow

W.C. Davis & Co. operated under that name from approximately 1842 to 1880 — a window of roughly 38 years. After 1880, the firm transitioned through Great Western Stove Works to Favorite Stove Works, and the W.C. Davis & Co. name ceased to appear on marked production. Any piece bearing the W.C. DAVIS & CO CINCINNATI O mark was cast within that 38-year window, before the Civil War or in its immediate aftermath, during a period when cast iron hollow ware production was still in its formative American industrial era. The marking itself is a timestamp.

Waffle Irons Are the Hardest Category to Find Complete

Within vintage cast iron collecting, waffle irons are among the most difficult pieces to find as complete, matched sets. Sets of irons separated from their bases over generations of use and household moves are extremely common. Finding bases without irons and irons without bases is far more common than finding complete matched sets. The Cast Iron Collector forum documents this directly: “More sets of irons survived than bases, so finding the right base can be more than a challenge. Winning the lottery is more likely than finding a button hinge base all by itself.” This is true of Griswold and Wagner waffle irons, which were produced in the hundreds of thousands. For W.C. Davis, produced in quantities a fraction of those makers, the odds of a complete set surviving are proportionally more remote.

The Only Other Documented Example Had No Base and a Broken Hinge

The publicly documented W.C. Davis & Co. waffle iron in the collector marketplace — sold on eBay, described as Civil War era, c. 1848–1888 — had a broken hinge and no base. The seller noted it “originally had a loop-handled cast iron round base.” The SSC piece has both paddles, both handles, a functioning hinge, and an original matching low base. It is, on the available evidence, the most complete surviving W.C. Davis & Co. waffle iron in the documented collector record.

The Predecessor of One of Ohio’s Most Celebrated Cookware Lines

Collector enthusiasm for Favorite Piqua Ware is well established. Waffle irons bearing the Favorite Piqua name command prices of $200 to $325 and above in restored condition. The firm that became Favorite Piqua started as W.C. Davis & Co. The SSC piece is not a Favorite Piqua waffle iron. It is the waffle iron made by the same Cincinnati foundry before it became Favorite, before Boal took over, before the move to Piqua, before the sunrise logo, before any of it. It is older, rarer, and more historically significant than any Favorite Piqua waffle iron because it represents the origin point of that entire lineage.

SSC-WCDAVIS-WAF-1860-001 — Bottom view showing the original low base. The low-profile base was designed for use on wood-burning stoves where the iron rotated over an open stove eye. The base is original to this set — its survival with the paddles intact is among the rarest configurations in mid-19th century waffle iron collecting.

Why This Piece Is in the SSC Collection

Steve’s Seasoned Classics documents Ohio cast iron makers, and W.C. Davis & Co. is one of Cincinnati’s foundational cast iron firms — operating continuously from 1842 to approximately 1892, producing stoves and hollow ware that served the Ohio River Valley for fifty years, and establishing the institutional foundation from which Favorite Piqua Ware — one of the most celebrated Ohio hollow ware lines — descended. It qualifies on every criterion: Ohio maker, Cincinnati location, documented production of cast iron hollow ware, marked piece.

But the significance of this specific piece goes beyond the maker identification. This is a complete W.C. Davis & Co. waffle iron — paddles, base, hinge, handles, all original, all intact — marked clearly with the firm name and city, dated by the marking to the pre-1880 era, and representing a form of Ohio cast iron that has essentially vanished from the public record. The research conducted for this catalog entry found precisely one other W.C. Davis & Co. waffle iron documented publicly, and it was damaged and incomplete.

SSC does not speculate beyond the evidence, and the claim that this is “the finest known surviving example” is a research conclusion, not a marketing statement. It is based on a review of collector databases, the WAGs foundry list, the Cast Iron Collector forum and foundry database, Worthpoint sales records, eBay sold listings, and collector research sites. No complete W.C. Davis & Co. waffle iron with original base has been identified in any of those sources. If one exists in a private collection, SSC is not aware of it. If one exists in an institutional collection, it is not publicly documented.

The iron endures. The markings tell the truth. The story deserves to be told.

Acquisition Record

• SSC Catalog No.: SSC-WCDAVIS-WAF-1860-001

• Platform: eBay

• Seller: thriftworld

• Order No.: 08-14652-93413

• Item No.: 306934615737

• Date Purchased: May 17, 2026

• Shipped: USPS Ground Advantage

• Museum Collection: Pre-1905 Collection

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W.C. Davis & Co. · Cincinnati Ohio · Ohio Foundry Corridor · Cast Iron Waffle Iron · Favorite Piqua Ancestor · Ohio Cast Iron · SSC Museum Collection

W.C. Davis & Co. Cast Iron Waffle Iron with Low Base