Wagner Ware Sidney -O- No. 7 Cast Iron Skillet

The Wagner Ware Sidney -O- No. 7 in the SSC collection is the oldest-marked piece in the complete skillet set, and its age is written plainly on its base. The logo is not the iconic stylized looped W. It is an earlier mark — WAGNER in an arc above straight-lettered WARE, SIDNEY, and -O- — the Arc/Straight/Straight configuration produced during the transitional 1920s period after Wagner began marketing its products as "Wagner Ware" around 1914, and before the stylized W was introduced around 1922. No catalog number is present, placing this piece firmly before 1924. Size number 7c below the logo and a heat ring on the base complete the picture. This is the No. 7 from the moment the Wagner Ware brand was still finding its identity — a transitional piece that brackets the exact visual transformation from arc-lettered Wagner to the stylized W that would define the brand for four decades.