A few months ago my wife's grandfather passed away. He had several pieces of Wagner cookware I was able to grab. 1 solid aluminum casserole dish w/ lid and 2 unmarked Wagner cast iron pans. There was 1 additional cast iron piece, that is marked Wagner Ware, but I can't fiugre out what it is. My wife's mother thinks it's a lid, but I don't think it is. There's not a lip on the underside so it stays securely in a pan, and the top looks to be a cook top surface.

The top is definitely polished, like the inside of the cooking pans, and it looks like it's been used as a cooking surface (just a very little black seasoning). The underside says Wagner Ware, Sidney -O-. 1120 B at 6 O'clock.

I think it may be some type of griddle?

I looked over Google and couldn't find anything similar. I saw some lids that were very similar, but they did not have the wire handle, just the typical curved piece on the top center.

The wire handle cannot be swapped to make the bottom the top. You'd have to break the wire to switch it around.

It is a griddle and its intended use was for a wood cookstove. Haven't seen one of this vintage for quite sometime but they are still in use by those who rely on wood cookstoves.

If you can't come up with an ID here you might give these folks a try. I don't like the idea of joining a forum just to ask a question but I guess sometimes you have to bite the bullet.

www.wag-society.org/

My SWAQ would be a heat diffuser to distribute heat evenly to the pan sitting on it.

Since it has a raised lip on both sides I would assume it would be referred to as having a heat ring. With that and the style of markings I would say it was one of the l922-1924 models.

As Trebor mentioned, it is indeed a griddle. I have a Griswold #9 of the same style that I keep in the camper.

Strip it down, season it up, and put it to use. Be careful though, with good enough seasoning, eggs will slide right off it when you're trying to flip them. Gotta hold 'em in place with a fork or something in order to get the spatula underneath.

That is a nice piece. A friend has a huge amount of cast iron. Wagner and Griswold. Stacks of skillits up to huge ones. Dutch ovens, both brands. Surprisingly, the Griswold ovens are more valuable than the Wagner yet, the Wagner is much heavier and nicer. He has loads of Lodge. Another friend snagged a cast iron Mail box which is quite old but like new. He paid 60 bucks which was less than half its value. I think this year past, I've seen about everything ever made of cast iron at the Flea Market.

One of the things I miss about living in podunk Illinois was the monthly farm auctions we’d go to.
If I could go back in time, knowing what I know now, I would’ve picked up some of the old Griswold cast iron they had at every single auction. Even remember seeing an old Winchester skillet at one.

quote:

Originally posted by trebor44:
It is a griddle and its intended use was for a wood cookstove. Haven't seen one of this vintage for quite sometime but they are still in use by those who rely on wood cookstoves.

Yep I think they removed one of the burner covers and replaced it with this griddle to cook on. I see these old wood cook stoves all the time on Craigs List and I'm always tempted to buy one and install it in my garage for cooking on.