Chicago Hardware Foundry

CHF — North Chicago, Illinois

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

Active 1900–1938 (cookware; co. to 1969) Mark the ◇ diamond — later Favorite / Sani-Ware Type the diamond firm & Favorite’s heir

Two threads in this guide finally tie off here. Chicago Hardware Foundry was a busy North Chicago grey-iron works whose early skillets carried one of the most-misread marks in cast iron: a size number inside a diamond, often the only mark on the pan.^C1 Collectors keep reading that “A-in-a-diamond” as “Atlanta” — it is not Atlanta; it is Chicago.^C4 Then, in 1934, CHF bought the patterns and tooling of the defunct Favorite Stove & Range Co. of Piqua, Ohio, and cast cookware under the revived “Favorite” name (with Sani-Ware and the nickel-alloy Ni-Resist).^C1 So a late “Favorite” pan may be Chicago iron, not Piqua — the Favorite brand’s afterlife, poured in Illinois. The cast-iron story is short: diamond skillets, the Favorite revival, then a 1938 labor riot that wrecked the foundry.^C2 Most useful to a collector, this page shows how to read the diamond.

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

✓ Primary — read/searched directly ~ Corroborated — collector authorities + the North Chicago record ⚑ To transcribe — n/a (no CHF cookware catalogue)

Documented facts

Date	Attribute	Value	Source	Confidence
1897–1900	A North Chicago grey-iron foundry identity	John Sherwin & E.P. Sedgwick, ex-Chicago Hardware Mfg men, leased the CHM foundry. A diverse hardware works — cookware sat beside sad irons, nutcrackers, caster wheels & folding furniture.	C1	~ corroborated
1930s	Most noted for skillets production	“High quality grey iron castings … most noted for their Cast Iron Cookware … especially Skillets.” Brands: Sani-Ware, the revived Favorite, and the nickel-alloy Ni-Resist.	C3	~ corroborated
c.1910s	The DIAMOND mark◆ flagship authentication	A size number inside a diamond outline, cast at ~6 o’clock (opposite the handle), often with a pattern letter. “The diamonds being the only markings on their skillets” — CHF’s earliest cookware.	C1	~ corroborated
—	The diamond misread as “Atlanta” authentication	The number-in-a-diamond (and “A in a diamond”) is routinely misattributed to Atlanta Stove Works — it is CHF. Atlanta never used a diamond.	C4	~ corroborated
1934	The second life of Favorite◆ flagship identity	CHF acquired the patterns & tooling of the defunct Favorite Stove & Range Co. of Piqua, OH, and cast cookware under the revived “Favorite” name — so a late “Favorite” pan may be Chicago iron, not Piqua.	C1	~ corroborated
1938	The labor riot ends the cookware era dating	A July 1938 strike became a riot that wrecked the foundry; “not much is known after that” for the cookware.	C2	~ corroborated
1969	The company outlived the cookware identity	CHF survived in furniture & castings, passed under Illinco Corp., and was liquidated in 1969 (equipment to Racine, WI). The pans end ~1938; the firm ends 1969.	C2	~ corroborated
1919	No cookware catalogue — only a furniture one identity	The only digitized CHF catalogues are its furniture line (Tables/Chairs/Stools, 1919) — itself evidence that cookware was a sideline. No priced or spec cookware datum exists.	C5	✓ primary

Read the diamond — the mark that isn’t Atlanta

CHF’s own early skillets wear one mark and one mark only: a size number in a diamond. Learn it, and you stop misreading it as “Atlanta”—and you can tell CHF’s own iron from the Favorite name it revived after 1934.

The CHF diamond: a size number in a diamond (here a No. 8), sometimes with a pattern letter, cast at 6 o’clock. It is Chicago—not Atlanta. Original schematic.

Honest caveat. There is no digitized CHF cookware catalogue (C5), and no logo chronology fine enough to date a pan to the year. The corporate dates are collector- and record-corroborated (C1/C2/C3), with two minor source splits shown as ranges: the founding (1897 organizing vs 1900) and the Favorite acquisition (1934 per the collector authority vs 1933 elsewhere).

If the bottom says…	It’s…
A size number in a ◇ diamond (± a pattern letter), at 6 o’clock	CHF, its own early line (~1910s–20s). NOT Atlanta.
“FAVORITE” — but with Chicago / CHF provenance	Likely a CHF post-1934 revival casting (Chicago iron, Favorite’s Piqua patterns).
“SANI-WARE” or a nickel-alloy “NI-RESIST”	CHF’s own branded cookware (mostly the 1934–38 era).
A diamond skillet listed as “Atlanta Stove Works”	A misattribution — correct it to Chicago Hardware Foundry.

The one-line rule: the diamond is Chicago (its own iron), the revived “Favorite” is Chicago too (Piqua patterns). Either way, read the iron before you trust the name.

What a CHF is worth today — recent eBay sales

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

Chicago Hardware Foundry is an obscure maker, but its diamond-marked skillets have a small, devoted following — here’s what they’ve been fetching.

CHF skillet (the diamond mark)

c. 1910s–1938 (size number in a diamond)

$40–$145

median $72 · 45 sales

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–Aug 2026.

In period print

Chicago Hardware Foundry advertised almost no cookware in the digitized press — it was a broad industrial works whose cast iron reached buyers through the trade. What the record keeps is the foundry itself: an early product, and its plants at North Chicago and Elkhart. Each item was read on the original page; all are public-domain newspapers.

In the news · 1901

“a necessity to all butter makers … it makes more butter and better butter.”

The foundry’s early cast iron at a county fair — a Chicago Hardware Foundry butter-worker, demonstrated to the local trade.

The Owosso Times, Mich. · July 5, 1901. Library of Congress →

In the news · 1921

“the molders’ strike at the Chicago Hardware foundry … was called off.”

The North Chicago works in the labor press — a strike running since February ends with a twenty-per-cent wage cut.

Newark Leader, Ohio · June 17, 1921. Library of Congress →

In the news · 1928

“An 80-foot expansion at the foundry … a new core room.”

The company’s Elkhart, Indiana works grows — one of the Chicago Hardware Foundry’s several cast-iron plants.

South Bend News-Times, Ind. · July 12, 1928. Library of Congress →

Sources

secondary · collector authority
castironcollector.com — Chicago Hardware Foundry Co. “1900 — Two CHM employees, Sherwin and Sedgwick, lease the CHM foundry and start Chicago Hardware Foundry Co.” (North Chicago, Lake County, IL); brands “Favorite, Sani-Ware, Ni-Resist”; “1934 — CHF acquires patterns and tooling from defunct Favorite Stove & Range Co. of Piqua, OH”; “1938 — A labor strike gives rise to a riot.” The diamond skillets are the earliest CHF hardware, the diamonds “the only markings on their skillets.” chf.php
secondary · corporate/industrial history
Made-in-Chicago Museum — Chicago Hardware Foundry Co. (est. 1897). “Organized in spring 1897” by Sedgwick (1867–1935) & Sherwin (1859–1921), ex-Chicago Hardware Mfg men who leased then built “directly across the street” (hence the confusingly similar names). Skillets & dutch ovens under “Sani-Ware,” sad irons, nutcrackers, caster wheels, doorstops, porcelain enamel, folding furniture; the 1938 riot (July 19; 300 pickets, tear gas); survived to a 1969 liquidation under Illinco Corp. (equipment to Racine, WI). madeinchicagomuseum.com
secondary · foundry reference
doorstops.com — Chicago Hardware Foundry Company. Corroborates C1/C2: 1897 lease of the CHM foundry; North Chicago; Sherwin president to his 1921 death, Sedgwick to his 1935 death; “most noted for their Cast Iron Cookware … especially Skillets”; brands “Favorite, Sani-Ware & Ni-Resist”; “1934 … acquired patterns and tooling from defunct Favorite Stove & Range Co”; “1938 … destroyed during a labor riot.” doorstops.com
secondary · identification authority
castironcollector.com — the diamond mark & the “not Atlanta” caution. The diamond = a size number in a diamond outline (cast at ~6 o’clock, opposite the handle), often with a pattern letter; it is a Chicago Hardware Foundry mark, NOT Atlanta Stove Works. Corroborated by surviving diamond skillets in sizes #3, #5, #7, #8 “A,” #9 “D,” #14 (the letters = pattern letters). unmarked.php
primary · archive search (verified)
Internet Archive — CHF catalogues are furniture, not cookware. A sweep for “chicago hardware foundry” returns no digitized cookware catalogue; the only digitized CHF catalogues are its furniture line (“Chicago Hardware Foundry — Tables, Chairs, Stools 1919” + “Tables and Stools”). A telling result: CHF’s surviving paper trail is its institutional furniture, so the cookware record rests on collector scholarship + surviving marked pans.

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