Q: We recently bought an old dark blue and white enamelware pot and wondered if it’s worth more than we paid. It's about 7 inches tall and 10 inches across. The bottom piece has little steamer holes on the side. It also has its original lid, which has an aluminum vent/steam release cover and a single loop handle. What would this have been used for—stews, baking pot roast? We paid $16 at an antiques flea market. I told my husband I felt it was a great investment piece. Any thoughts?
A: Graniteware, enameled tin or iron, has been used to make kitchen utensils since the 1870s. Your graniteware “pot” probably wasn’t used to cook anything since it’s bowl-shaped, not pot-shaped. It doesn’t have handles and would be difficult to carry to or from the stove. It might be a bread dough riser. Most of the graniteware bread dough risers we’ve seen are footed and have handles on two sides of the bowl where yours has ventilation holes. The off-center handle on the lid on your bowl is unusual. Graniteware has been reproduced and new pieces are being made today. Collectors like pieces made before 1900 or graniteware in rarer colors. Your piece is worth more than the $16 you paid for it. Value, at least $50. Can anyone suggest how his piece was used? That will influence the price.
cous cous could be its use
Perhaps it is a humidifier…it’s shape and description about the steam holes makes it stick in my mind as such. Not unlike the DeVilbiss unit my mother used to set out for my sister and I when we had bronchitis and colds as kids…
I believe that it is the top portion of a double-boiler/steamer…..the pot portion is missing
This is part of a Steamer, there are two more parts to the item. The entire set consists of 1. a bottom “trivet” type cover. 2. a pot for the water. 3. the bowl (shown). 4. the lid (also shown).
There is one for sale on eBay with a starting bid of $75.00.
Regards,
Bob, Jacksonville Beach, FL.
My husband’s grandmother made a german dumpling in a similar pan…base had holes in it and the base was set on the rim of a larger pan that allowed space for water (like a double boiler) beneath the base and then a lid with steam hole covered the pan. The dumpling was steamed in this pan. Wonderful dumpling!
I believe what you have there is an early form of steamer. It would have fit onto a flat-bottomed pot with simmering water in it. This would have been used for very slow cooking of something like suet pudding, or reheating a plum pudding or the like.
Could it have been used as a vaporizer in a home. You know, pour boiling water in it, add menthol or whatever medication a doctor might order. Take to the sick person’s bed and let the steam out through the ventilation holes.
Just a thought.
It might be a steamer for vegetables given that it has holes in the bottom. It would sit over a pot of boiling water.
My guess would be that it sat over a larger pot of boiling water with the steam going up through the holes.