By Nicole

If you recall, in my last post, a whole three hours ago, I showed the above skillet.  It still really needs a cleaning.  Well my curiousity got the best of me (before I even started cleaning the thing), and I Googled what I could read on the bottom.  And this is what I found.  RubyLane.com has almost the exact skillet (but way cleaner) for sale.  So, I think that is what this one is.  We bought it at a garage sale for next to nothing.  It's being sold for $50.00 on the website!  Yippee. I have expensive stuff that I got for cheap.  I love that rush. We'll find out once I soak all that gunk off the bottom. I am still trying to learn more.  Especially about the hammered dutch oven.  The Find  has great links to all kinds of cast iron too.  Is anyone else out there a cast iron nut like me?

While I was putting away all the pots and pans from Thanksgiving, I got "re-interested" in my cast iron pans.  Jason's grandma came out to the house and she was talking about the old cast iron she had when she was young raising all her kids in Oklahoma.  She said her skillets had a number on the top of the handle.  Jason and I have spent many summers garage saling to acquire the collection we now have.  And I am always on the lookout for more cast iron for my sisters and brother.  I don't think anything I own is a collector item.  I do get curious every once in a while and try to figure out if what I have is worth anything, even though it wouldn't really make a difference, since I would keep it and use it anyway.  I'm just weird, and I like to look things up on the Internet instead of do other things like cleaning and laundry.  Anyway... here is my "collection".  This is the bottom of the pan that I have with a number on the handle, like Jaso...