Bought this at an antique store today, but not sure if it’s a cooking pan or lead ingot mold. Cast iron, 22 indentations in it and each one is 3 1/4†long by 1†wide. Some have said it is a cornbread pan like they use to make sticks at the Shaker Village in Kentucky and others have said lead ingot mold. I’m going to lead check it Tuesday to make sure but in the meantime, are there any experts that can weigh in? No markings on it and I only gave $15 for it so if it tests hot for lead I’m trashing it. 
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Twinkie pan?
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Breadstick PanComment
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It looks like a gem pan. They used to use them to make little pieces of corn bread, stuff like that. What does the back look like?
A lot of foundries made pieces of cookware for private vendors. Sometimes they would not label the pans when they were produced. Especially in the late 1800's, early 1900's
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http://www.nantucketcountryantiques....category_id=88
Scroll about 2/3 down the page.
If you google "cast iron cornbread pan" and switch to "Image View", you will see a number of these. Some are divided, and some run all the way across the pan. Griswold made one, so I'm sure Spinaker is on top of this.
Last edited by RonB; February 18, 2018, 07:03 PM.Comment
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And here I was going to guess an organiser for small nuts and bolts.......
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Dang, my idea of the first prototype non-release ice cube tray just sounds silly now.Comment
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I would lean toward a gem pan too. Typically an ingot mold would have reverse cast markings in the bottom of each mold to denote the, well, ingot! There is SOOOOOO much iron out there, it is truly a cult in itself to figure out!Comment
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Thank you all. I googled Corn Bread Gem pans as suggested above and bigger than day, there it was! No markings on it and the indentations go all the way across on the back side with no separation in the middle like on the front. I’m still going to LeadChek it to make sure someone didn’t use it for making fishing weights or what not.Comment
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The following website has some good photos to help identify what company made the gem. It's a pretty helpful site. Since there is no "Made in the USA" or "USA" stamp on the back, it was made prior to 1960. The site has decent articles regarding CI.
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Yeah, my sister and her husband, big into flea markets, auctions, and "sales" of every kind ( long before the TV shows popularized them) has run across these pans.
She has got my son into glass insulators. He runs into some good ones every now and again missed by the for profit "pickers".
I hope your pan is lead free, and you can make a corn bread batch with it.
M.Comment
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A paperweightComment
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