# Can someone Identify/Date this old cast iron?



## dbrennan84 (Aug 9, 2010)

Can someone Identify/Date this old cast iron?



Century Made in the U.S.A.



Made in the U.S,A. Tea Kettle 3370 1


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Century was a trade name for cast iron cookware made by the Birmingham Stove, or Birmingham Stove and Range Company of either Martin, Alabama or Atlanta, Georgia respectively.  Birmingham took over Atlanta, formed Birmingham Stove and Range then went belly up because they stupidly misread the market and tried to make it on "back to nature" wood burning stoves.  It seems the hippies were too unreliable and the surivalists too suspicous.   Too bad, as they made some good barbecue grills.  

Your kettle is probably mid to late XXth C. 

Rust is like cancer.  You need to take care of it ASAP.

If you want more, you'll have to do your own research.  Restoration and care info is easy to find. There are cast-iron collecting societies, and undoubtedly scores of thousands of people who can tell you everything you want to know about the maker and the particulars of your kettle, but you may actually have to do some snail mail and/or faxing.    

BDL


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Most of these are intended as humidifiers. Fill them with water and put them on your wood burning stove.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

Phil is correct. Although they are often called "tea kettles" they are designed to sit on a wood stove (or, in more modern homes, radiators) and act a humidifiers. Nothing drys out a home the way wood heat can.

Even if you derust and cure the outside, the insides are difficult to preserve because, if they were used for the intended purpose, they are heavily rusted. Most collectors use stove black or other paint for that reason. If yours is salvagable (and I think it is, as it looks unused), just clean and cure it like any other cast iron.

Although the vast majority of these kettles are cast iron there are some cast aluminum versions around as well.


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## amazingrace (Jul 28, 2006)

Wow, where did you get this?  It looks like it was buried in your back yard!


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## valerie morales (Mar 18, 2013)

it is a humidafier from the 50's. it's value is about $50.00 to $65.00. i have one just like it, if you keep it like it is it's worth 65.00, but if you paint it you will take the value down. you can put a little cookin oli on it to bring out the color but that is it.bye


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

boar_d_laze said:


> ...It seems the hippies were too unreliable ...
> 
> BDL


Without intending to hijack this thread, let me clarify something. Hippies slowly realized that to make/live off of the land, they would need to work as hard and as long as the Amish or Hutterites and so much for their little experiment and the media portrayal of them.


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