Somewhere in my garage is a beautiful gray coffeepot with speckles that I picked up at auction some time ago. It’s one of those big old metal coffeepots like the ones you’d see on a cattle drive in old western movies, the pot that cowboys picked up from an open fire and filled their tin cups with hot coffee.
The one in my garage looks as if it has never met an open fire or a stovetop. I bought it because I love the look of graniteware – that’s what it’s called, a graniteware coffeepot.
I’m drawn to graniteware because I love the look of it: It transforms pots and pans and coffeepots into art patterns, even though it is commercially made and mass-produced. It’s just lovely, whatever form it takes.
I was at another auction recently where many pieces of graniteware were for sale, but I controlled myself and didn’t buy any. Why should I when I’m doing nothing decorative with the pieces I have ?
The pieces at the auction included large and small coffeepots, muffin pan, cups, funnel, and even bed pans.
Graniteware has been manufactured since the late 19th century and was still available until the second world war, replaced by aluminum as the material of choice for kitchenware. It was first patented in this country by two brothers who borrowed the idea after seeing enameled products in Europe. Frederick G. and William F. Niedringhaus experimented with making the product themselves in their own factory that made unadorned metal pots and pans.
They began making graniteware (the name came from the ground granite used in the enamel) in 1874. They built a plant to manufacture the kitchenware on a spot of land in Illinois that became a company town called Granite City. Their company, St. Louis Stamping Company, was among several that made the products.
Graniteware was inexpensive to buy and could be easily purchased in mail-order catalogs. It was lighter than cast-iron cookware, but it was also more fragile. It chipped very easily, exposing the metal beneath, which tended to rust.
Today, graniteware – also called agateware, enamel war and other names – is popular with collectors. You can find it in the speckled gray or a pretty blue with white swirls (I believe I have a water dipper in that color), along with purple, red, brown, green and white. It also comes in a variety of patterns.
There are reproductions and newer products, and collectors are urged to be careful. Prices depend on the age of the pieces and condition.
Even if you aren’t a collector, graniteware can be a very decorative addition in your kitchen or as a flower pot in any room.
Here is some of the other graniteware at the auction:
