Atlanta Stove Works

ASW — Atlanta, Georgia

Researched & written by Ethan Trex, a cast-iron cook & collector. · Reviewed August 2026

Active 1889–1957 (Atlanta foundry; brand later) Mark ATLANTA STOVE WORKS + labels — but often BSR iron Type the parent brand

Meet the other half of the BSR story. Atlanta Stove Works is the elder, Atlanta-side firm of the Jones family: a stove company founded in 1889 as the Georgia Stove Co.,^A1 it was ASW’s owners who, in 1902, built the Birmingham foundry that became Birmingham Stove & Range to cast their cookware.^A3 So ASW is the parent; BSR the child. And where the anonymous child signed nothing, the parent did sign—a script “ATLANTA STOVE WORKS” mark, paper labels, and named lines like Early American, Small Fry and Lady Bess.^A5 But here is the twist that trips up collectors: after the Atlanta foundry closed in 1957, an “Atlanta Stove Works” pan was very often the same Birmingham iron BSR was already pouring.^A4 The name is the seller; BSR is frequently the maker. This page shows how to read the family tree.

↔ Companion pages: BSR · Griswold · Wagner · Favorite · Lodge · Wapak · Sidney · CHF

✓ Primary — read/searched directly ~ Corroborated — collector authorities + the Jones record ⚑ To transcribe — n/a (no ASW catalogue exists)

Documented facts

Date	Attribute	Value	Source	Confidence
1889	Founded as the Georgia Stove Co. identity	Atlanta, GA — a stove company first; hollow ware was the sideline that would grow into BSR.	A1	~ corroborated
1898–99	The Jones family takes ASW identity	Sam D. Jones bought in 1898 (VP); he and his brother Bolling Jones took 82% control in 1899, Sam as president.	A2	~ corroborated
1902	ASW is the parent; BSR the cookware child◆ flagship identity	The Jones brothers of ASW built a Birmingham foundry — “Alabama Manufacturing,” renamed Birmingham Stove & Range in 1909 — expressly to cast ASW’s cookware.	A1	~ corroborated
1926	Shared Jones management — two names, one iron identity	Sam D. Jones retired; son Bolling Jones II became president of both ASW and BS&R. From here, an ASW pan and a BSR pan were frequently the same casting.	A2	~ corroborated
1950s	ASW signed where BSR stayed silent◆ flagship authentication	A script “ATLANTA STOVE WORKS” mark, paper labels, and registered lines — Small Fry, Lady Bess, Sportee, and the Early American cookware line.	A5	~ corroborated
1957	The name outlives the foundry dating	The Atlanta cast-iron foundry closed in 1957; the ASW brand continued, its later cookware cast in Birmingham by BSR.	A1	~ corroborated
1934	Caution: the “diamond” mark is NOT Atlanta authentication	A size-number-in-a-diamond (or “A in a diamond”) is a Chicago Hardware Foundry mark (which bought Favorite’s patterns in 1934) — not ASW.	A4	~ corroborated
1989	The end of the Jones line — the Lodge loop identity	The Joneses sold majority control to the Wisely Group (1984); the Birmingham foundry shut in 1989 and the patterns passed to Lodge.	A2	~ corroborated

Read the family tree — the name is the seller, not always the foundry

An Atlanta Stove Works mark tells you the brand; which foundry poured the pan depends on the era. Because the Jones family owned both firms, ASW and BSR are two names on one stream of iron—and after 1957 that stream ran entirely out of Birmingham.

One family, two firms: ASW (the parent, the name) built BSR (the child, the foundry) in 1902; both feed one stream of iron sold under the Atlanta name, and after 1957 it is all Birmingham-cast. Original schematic.

Honest caveat. There is no digitized ASW cookware catalogue (A6), and no logo chronology fine enough to date a pan to the year. The corporate dates are collector- and record-corroborated (A1/A2); the branded lines come from a federal trademark index that was not opened at the record level (A5), so no registration numbers are cited.

If the bottom says…	It’s…
“ATLANTA STOVE WORKS” + a neat size number / pattern letter	The ASW brand — most likely a 1950s–60s BSR (Birmingham) casting under the parent’s name.
A “SMALL FRY” or “LADY BESS” paper label	An ASW branded-line piece (c. 1950s–60s), Birmingham-cast. The label is why it isn’t “unmarked.”
A number in a diamond (or “A” in a diamond)	NOT Atlanta — that is Chicago Hardware Foundry (ex-Favorite patterns, 1934).
Nothing — but a heat ring + an angled handle, and family lore calls it “the Atlanta pan”	Read it as BSR iron; the ASW label is simply lost.

The one-line rule: an ATLANTA STOVE WORKS mark identifies the brand, not the foundry. Before 1957 the pan could be Atlanta-cast; from the late 1950s on it is Birmingham (BSR) iron under the Atlanta name.

What an Atlanta is worth today — recent eBay sales

◆ Market data — vetted completed salesNot an appraisal or a catalog price.

Atlanta Stove Works pieces are scarce on the resale market and often the very same Birmingham iron as BSR, so these rest on only a handful of vetted sales.

⚠️ Barely a market. Genuine “Atlanta Stove Works”-marked skillets almost never trade — over 90 days only a single one sold cleanly. The Atlanta cookware that does change hands is the BSR-made named lines (the “Lady Bess” below), and even that rests on a handful of sales. A rough ballpark, not an appraisal — and remember the iron is usually the same as BSR.

'Lady Bess' piece (a named line)

c. 1950s–60s

$30–$83

median $32 · 6 sales thin

How to read this. Each range is the middle half (25th–75th percentile) of recent completed eBay sales for vetted, comparable pieces — reproductions, damaged pieces, multi-item lots, other makers and the rarest hand-vetted pieces are filtered out before the range is computed. Cast-iron value swings hard on condition and mark, so treat these as ballparks for clean, common pieces, not appraisals. Source: vetted eBay completed sales via SoldComps; May–Jul 2026.

In period print

Atlanta Stove Works — a half-century Georgia foundry — made “hollow-ware, grates, ranges” and sold its cooking stoves by name. Each quote was read on the original page; all are public-domain newspapers.

Advertisement · 1912

“stoves made in Atlanta by Atlanta Stove Works.”

“Our wonderful Cooking Range — the Barrett” — a product ad in the maker’s home city.

Atlanta Georgian, Ga. · Aug. 7, 1912. Library of Congress →

Trade directory · 1906

“Hollow-Ware, Grates, Ranges, Etc. — Atlanta Stove Works.”

A city business directory pins the works to Irwin St. — and to the cast-iron hollow ware it made.

The Montgomery Advertiser, Ala. · Aug. 7, 1906. Library of Congress →

In the news · 1907

“one hundred per cent a year … a ‘reasonable profit’?”

An editorial needles the Atlanta Stove Works over its profits — a measure of the firm’s size and standing.

Americus Times-Recorder, Ga. · Oct. 2, 1907. Library of Congress →

In the news · 1906

“entitled to mandamus to compel the railroads to receive its product.”

The works wins a fight to force fair freight handling — its output moving to market by the carload.

The Birmingham Age-Herald, Ala. · June 15, 1906. Library of Congress →

Sources

secondary · collector authority
castironcollector.com — Atlanta Stove Works. Founded as the Georgia Stove Co. (1889); Jones family controlling interest (1898); founder Sam D. Jones; the Birmingham Stove & Range Co. “established to produce hollow ware and stoves for ASW” (1902), sited for a “plentiful source of high grade iron”; Period of Production 1898–1957; the Atlanta foundry closed 1957; brand line listed as “Early American.” atlanta.php
secondary · feature (the Jones timeline)
Southern Cast Iron — “Forgotten Foundry: Birmingham Stove & Range.” The directly-quoted family chronology: Sam D. Jones invests / VP (1898); he & brother Bolling “acquire 82 percent of the stock of ASW” (1899); the Jones brothers build the Birmingham foundry “Alabama Manufacturing” (1902), renamed BSR (1909); Bolling Jones II president of ASW & BS&R (1926); Saunders Jones II (1973); majority to the Wisely Group (1984); “the Birmingham foundry shuts down” (1989). southerncastiron.com
tertiary · encyclopedia list
Wikipedia — List of American cast-iron cookware manufacturers. Corroborates ASW “founded in 1889 (originally named Georgia Stove Company)”; the 1902 Birmingham foundry built “to supplement their stoves … named Birmingham Stove & Range”; BSR’s “unmarked” pans (early-1900s–1970s); BSR bankruptcy 1989, holdings “acquired by Lodge Manufacturing.” wikipedia.org
secondary · identification authority
castironcollector.com — Unmarked Iron & Chicago Hardware Foundry. BSR pieces “may also have been sold branded as Atlanta Stove Works”; marked ASW pieces (early 1950s–mid 1960s) show neatly formed size numbers + pattern letters/dots. The caution: the number-in-a-diamond (and “A in a diamond”) is a Chicago Hardware Foundry mark (which bought Favorite’s patterns in 1934), not Atlanta; and ASW “never made a chicken fryer with a heat ring.” unmarked.php
federal trademark index · records not opened
U.S. trademark index — owner “Atlanta Stove Works, Inc.” (Justia mirror of USPTO). Surfaces marks attributed to ASW — Small Fry (skillets), Lady Bess (skillets, dutch ovens, casseroles, cooking pans), Sportee (charcoal cookers) — plus the Early American line. Honesty note: the individual federal records returned 403 to automated fetch and were not opened, so no serial/registration numbers or filing dates are cited. Small Fry is independently corroborated by surviving skillets with original paper labels. trademarks.justia.com
primary · verified negative
Internet Archive — no ASW cookware catalogue. A sweep for “atlanta stove works” returns no openable period cookware catalogue or price list (a Pinterest “catalog” image exists but is unverifiable and is not cited). So ASW carries no priced or spec datum from a primary catalogue; identification rests on the corporate record, the trademark index, and surviving marked/labeled pieces.

Part of a citation-first cast-iron cookware reference. Companions: BSR · Griswold · Wagner · Favorite · Lodge · Wapak · Sidney. Confidence flags: ✓ primary (read/searched directly) · ~ corroborated (collector authorities + the Jones record) · ⚑ to transcribe. The family-tree schematic is an original drawing. Pre-1930 catalogs, patents & trademark records are public domain.