Pioneer Cookware
Some time before the introduction of the new DISA automated production, a line of cast iron cookware was produced by BS&R especially for retailers such as Sears Roebuck. These cast iron pans were labeled "Pioneer" cookware. In fact, the entire line of cast iron cookware was exactly the same cast iron pans made for the Century Cookware line. They were labeled as "Pioneer", but these pans had the same markings and the same size as every other pan made for the Century Cookware series. Here is an example of a "Pioneer" pan with the markings of a Red Mountain pan. This suggests this pan may have been produced in the 1950s to 1960s, before the introduction of automated production.
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Photos courtesy of Jeremy Ulbrich.
Meanwhile, here is a "Pioneer" series dutch oven produced much later, possibly in the 1970s. At that time, BS&R was beginning to produce cast iron pans that were made to fit glass lids. This pot has the markings of a Century Cookware dutch oven, but it has a glass lid.
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Photos courtesy of Brandon Mckeever.
For a brief period of time after the year 1966 (when the company began using DISA automated production), BS&R produced cast iron lids with a knob handle. The lid itself did not have a handle when initially cast. Rather, it was cast with a hole in the center of the pan, especially to screw a knob handle into the lid. The knob was made from cast iron; it wasn't plastic or silicone.
Cast iron collectors and researchers familiar with Birmingham Stove & Range have often said these knob handle lids were part of the Pioneer series. As far as we can tell at this time, this is incorrect. The Pioneer series were Century Cookware pans with different labels attached.
Lady Bess: 1976 to 1980
Photos by Debra Taylor.
Photos by Byron Holt.
Former BS&R marketing manager Hugh Rushing writes, "The Lady Bess line was introduced to celebrate the [United States] bicentennial. Retailers were interested in glass lids, so the patterns and resulting diameter of the pans in that line were designed to fit standard available glass covers. Lady Bess also had wooden handles on the skillets and sauce pans. They were originally packaged as sets in a wooden crate. All very Early American. Later those patterns were used to make Con Brio, a short line with white porcelain handles which were sold mainly on the West Coast. This was also the first cast iron with a nonstick finish."
The size number marked on the bottom of the Lady Bess series did not match the earlier sizes of 3 through 14 used in the Red Mountain and Century series. The Lady Bess size had a W next to the number, which indicated "width." A pan marked 8W was 8 inches in diameter – and this was much smaller than a Century or Red Mountain size 8 (10 5/8 inches diameter). This was unintentionally ironic, as the Lady Bess series was intended to imitate an "Early American" style cast iron pan – yet, it would not fit in a genuine antique cast iron stove.
Photos courtesy of Brandon Mckeever.
The Lady Bess series included a small cast iron pan that looked completely different from anything else made by BS&R: the 5 inch "Small Fry" pan. Its handle was shaped different from any other Birmingham Stove & Range pans, and its size and shape are similar to a number of tiny square pans produced by Asian manufacturers. Those foreign pans are sold today at retail stores, both for cooking and even as candle holders. However, the 5 X 5 SMALL FRY logo on the bottom of this pan unquestionably identifies it as BS&R. It includes the 68H-1 mold ID number added to 1970s-era Century pans.
As with other pans in the Lady Bess series, the Small Fry did not use traditional size numbers; rather, it was listed with a size number of 5 X 5.
Con Brio: 1989 to 1992
Photos by Jason Walker.
About ten years after the Lady Bess series was produced, A&B Foundry (Atlanta Stove Works had been renamed in 1986) re-used the designs of these pans. A series of pans with porcelain handles, rather than wood, was issued under the name of Con Brio. The cast iron pans themselves were exactly the same as Lady Bess; the only difference was the handle.
Teflon Coated Non-Stick Pans from Birmingham Stove & Range
Photos presented are from Glen Moody, Denton Pharris and Jason Walker.
For years, these cast iron pans were a genuine mystery. A number of these pans have appeared with this unusual design on the bottom, along with the unmistakable size marking of a Century Cookware skillet. However, there have also been some of these pans found that have the marking of an unmarked Wagner: 10 1/4 INCH SKILLET. Former officials of Birmingham Stove & Range, including Hugh Rushing and Saunders Jones, Jr., insist this design was never used at the foundry. Nonetheless, pans with this design continue to appear in the hands of collectors and sellers. There have been guesses these were actually made by Wagner, but no one has been able to provide any evidence regarding the origin of these pans. A few collectors have given these pans the nickname "Mercedes" because of the similarity to the auto maker's logo.
Cast iron collectors pondered this pan for years: why does it have the design on the bottom? Internet researchers have shared photos of finding this pan in the wild, and eventually the answer to this mystery has been revealed! In June of 2023, strong evidence was discovered behind the mysterious "Mercedes" cast iron pans.
These pans were produced by Birmingham Stove & Range as part of an experimental series of Teflon-coated non-stick cast iron pans. Yes, that's correct. For a brief period of time, BS&R attempted to market a series of Teflon-coated cast iron pans. Cast iron cookware manufacturers had seen their revenue sharply descrease in the 1960s and 1970s as American households turned away from traditional cast iron and embraced non-stick cookware, especially lighter cookware made from aluminum and thin stainless steel. In an attempt to generate revenue and hopefully enter the non-stick cookware market, BS&R produced a series of cast iron pans with a Teflon coating. The unusual design of these cast iron pans may have been to produce more contact with electric stovetop ranges, which were also outnumbering gas stovetops in terms of quantity. And this was the result: a Teflon-coated cast iron pan.
Unfortunately, these "non-stick" cast iron pans didn't sell very well. They weren't enough to save BS&R from falling into bankruptcy in 1993, and customers did not accept the idea of a Teflon-coated cast iron pan. More important, the Teflon coating didn't stick to the iron very well: it was easily scratched and scraped off, and it didn't last very long. This is why quite a few of these "Mercedes" skillets have been discovered that were completely bare, without any coating on the cooking surface of the pan.
However, the mystery hasn’t been completely solved. One question exists that has not been answered: Why did some of these cast iron pans have the markings of an unmarked Wagner skillet, rather than a BS&R skillet?
The photos below are by Vlad Chituc and presented here with permission. Posted to the BS&R, Lodge And Hammered Cast Iron Facebook group on June 9, 2023:
"I found these Teflon coated skillets at an auction and picked them up (20 dollars each). It struck me as really weird and unusual to see cast iron and Teflon going together, and I was really happy to see that they came with the original box, which says Atlanta Stove Works. After some digging, I read that BSR sometimes released under that name.“Yesterday, I posted this over at BSR Birmingham Stove & Range User/Collector Group, and it caused a bit of a stir and they suggested I share it over here, as well. It seems like this is the first clear confirmation that BSR made these “Mercedes” skillets, which seems like had been a bit of a debate for a while.Anyway, I’m new to cast iron restoring and collecting so wanted to say hi (and I’ve found the whole community to be really warm and supportive and welcoming, so thank y’all!)”
