Find us on Facebook: Cast Iron Canada – https://www.facebook.com/groups/1408817499448631/
GSW started life after the merger of several companies… Dating GSW is slowly coming to pass – and i’m still hoping someone has a GSW catalogues they would like to share. If anyone has any information regarding logos, please send it in.
Bear in mind – some of these skillets have an X with 3 numbers under the handle, these would be the earlier GSW’s made by McClary. If no X number exists, then you definitely have a later piece that is NOT made by McClary.
The quickest way to start the dating process of your skillet is to look at the font of the “MADE IN CANADA”. There are 2 distinct font styles, one McClary and I suspect the other is made by Findlay’s Ltd out of Carleton Place, Ontario.
This is the font style you will see on EVERY McClary made skillet, there are however a few exceptions. Some of the GSW pieces have this font – but not the X number under the handle. This font and no X mark would likely put the skillet into the mid to late 1940’s – after what appears to be a move to an outside jobber. (Again, probably Findlay)
This font is most defintely not McClary – I suspect Findlay’s Ltd started jobbing for GSW sometime in the late 40’s but still looking for the proof. Lots of anecdotal exists but still hesitant to make the call. Findlay jobbed for Smart’s foundry from 1960 to 1965 – so it’s possible.
If you look closely at the following logo’s pulled from General Steel Wares (GSW) skillets, there are slight differences. In the logo below, the peak of the S in GSW isn’t as tall as the 1949, and the G for example has an odder shape. Compare that with the GSW logo I pulled from a 1943 war ad. The general layout of the logo is the same. The skillets with this logo are marked under the handle with an Xxxx – an X900 series number. Is it likely this was the original logo that was used after the 1927 merger? This logo also shows in a 1952 McClary advertisement here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33957003@N02/4914296938
This logo was trademarked in 1939 – date of first use in Canada is April 16, 1939.
General Steel Wares 1956 logo. If you look closely at the following logos, they are the same. The image on the right is the catalog from GSW in 1956 – and these skillets are NOT X900 series marked.
This logo was trademarked in Canada in 1949 – and none of the skillets appear to be made by McClary Manufacturing.
Further investigating in the advertising department is a 1950’s McClary/GSW pamphlet clearly showing the logo. Cast iron GSW skillets from this era have no X numbers on the handle, and they are later.
Then there is this logo, still trying to date it. It displays “Made in Canada” and is X900 series marked and the only place it fits is early 1930’s to late 1930’s… Early 1930’s is when McClary started making GSW’s MONARCH series of cast iron cookware.
Registered trademark in 1934, note the scripted GSW. If this was used on skillets or hollow ware, I haven’t seen it. If anyone has a piece, please send some pictures. I would love to see it and add it here.
General Steel Wares filed for the current trademark logo in 1969-10-17, it was registered in 1971.
