Sidney Hollow Ware Co.

The Philip Smith Company — Sidney, Shelby County, Ohio

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

Cast-iron hollow ware 1886–1903 Mark a “Sidney” + “O” — script (Smith) / block (Wagner) Type the disambiguation page

There are too many “Sidneys” in cast iron, and collectors mix them up constantly. This is the page that sorts them out. Philip Smith ran a foundry at Sidney, Ohio from before the Civil War—he cast a cannon there in 1863^SW1—and in 1886 he added a line of cast-iron hollow ware.^SW2 In 1897 he sold the foundry to his cross-town rival Wagner (William H. Wagner ran it), then bought it back in 1903 and never made hollow ware again.^SW2 So a piece marked “Sidney” can be Smith’s own ware, Wagner’s ware from Smith’s old foundry, or one of Wagner’s own “Sidney” products—and the one clean tell threads through all of it: a cursive script “Sidney” is Smith’s genuine original; block letters are Wagner-era.^SW2 Most useful to a collector, this page shows how to tell the Sidneys apart.

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

✓ Primary — read directly (county history / search) ~ Corroborated — reliable collector authority ⚑ To transcribe — n/a (no Sidney catalogue exists)

Documented facts

Date	Attribute	Value	Source	Confidence
1863	Philip Smith’s Sidney foundry identity	Older than the cookware: Smith cast the cannon “Swamp Angel” “in his own foundry” in 1863. The county history names “the Philip Smith Company” and its “hollow-ware department.”	SW1	✓ primary
1886	Added cast-iron hollow ware identity	From general casting (bells, hinges, plow parts) to kettles, griddles, Scotch bowls & waffle irons. Founded P. Smith Bro. & Co. on a “$25” start.	SW2	~ corroborated
1886	Script vs. block — the one clean tell◆ flagship authentication	A cursive script “Sidney O” = genuine Philip-Smith era (pre-1897, rarest); block-letter “Sidney O” = Wagner-era, same foundry, after 1897.	SW2	~ corroborated
1897	Bought by Wagner identity	Wagner Mfg. bought Smith’s foundry for a reported ~$35,000–$40,000; William H. Wagner ran it, casting block-marked “Sidney” ware.	SW2·SW4	~ corroborated
1903	Sold back — and stopped identity	Wagner sold the foundry back to Philip Smith in 1903; Smith did not resume hollow ware (retired 1907, died 1914).	SW2	~ corroborated
1924	The OTHER “Sidneys” — Wagner’s own authentication	Wagner made a “Sidney” Tea Kettle & “Sidney” Pattern pot, and stamped “SIDNEY -O-” (= Sidney, Ohio) in its logo — none is the Sidney Hollow Ware Co.	SW5	✓ primary
1886	Identifying tells authentication	A “Sidney O” mark + embossed size number + heat ring; light, machine-polished, smooth castings, often nickel-plated.	SW3	~ corroborated
—	No catalogue, no registered mark identity	No period Sidney Hollow Ware catalogue is digitized, and the “Sidney O” mark was never federally registered. A thinly-documented maker.	SW6	✓ primary

Telling the Sidneys apart — the script is the key

The lettering does the dating. Philip Smith’s genuine ware wears a flowing cursive script; the same foundry under Wagner switched to plain block letters.

Script “Sidney” vs. block “SIDNEY”

Illustrative schematic of the lettering style — not a reproduction of a specific logo. Script → Smith; block → Wagner.

The four “Sidneys”

“Sidney”	What it actually is
Sidney, Ohio	The town (Shelby County seat) — home to both Philip Smith’s foundry and, from 1891, the Wagner Manufacturing Co.
Sidney Hollow Ware Co. script “Sidney O”	Philip Smith’s genuine cast-iron hollow ware, 1886–1897. The rarest.
Wagner-made “Sidney” block “Sidney O”	Cast by Wagner in Smith’s old foundry, 1897–1903.
Wagner’s own “Sidney”	Wagner’s “Sidney” tea-kettle pattern, and the “SIDNEY -O-” in Wagner’s stylized logo (= Sidney, Ohio) — all Wagner’s own ware.

Honest caveat. The mark date-ranges are collector best-estimates (SW2/SW3); the founder’s foundry is primary (SW1), and the 1897/1903 Wagner deal is corroborated on both sides. The reported purchase price varies ($35,000 vs. $40,000).

The cannon “Swamp Angel” … “was cast by Philip Smith in his own foundry for the occasion. This cannon was thrown into a pond up in Michigan and years afterwards was raised by Philip Smith himself and brought back to Sidney.” — History of Shelby County, Ohio (1913): the founder’s foundry, decades before the hollow-ware line (SW1)

What a Sidney is worth today — recent eBay sales

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

Genuine Sidney Hollow Ware (Philip Smith, 1886–1903) is rare and easily confused with Wagner — so these figures rest on only a handful of vetted sales.

⚠️ Rough ballpark only. Fewer than a dozen genuine Sidney Hollow Ware pieces have sold recently, so treat these as a wide, uncertain range — enough to know a marked Sidney piece is worth real money (not a $5 yard-sale find), but nowhere near a firm appraisal.

Sidney Hollow Ware skillet

1886–1903 (script = Smith / block = Wagner-era)

$114–$338

median $195 · 5 sales thin

Sidney Hollow Ware piece (any form)

1886–1903

$101–$155

median $108 · 7 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–Aug 2026.

In period print

Sidney Hollow Ware Co. of Sidney, Ohio left a light trail in the digitized press — but where it appears, dealers and editors liked what they saw. Each quote was read on the original page; all are public-domain newspapers.

In the news · 1897

“It is a beauty and the ware is cheap and serviceable.”

A Minnesota editor admires the Sidney Hollow Ware Co.’s display rack in a local hardware store.

Morris Tribune, Minn. · Aug. 4, 1897. Library of Congress →

Advertisement · 1897

“admired by every lady.”

“The Sidney Hollowware company has a fine display of steel polished and nickeled ware” — a dealer’s notice.

The Kanabec County Times, Mora, Minn. · July 16, 1897. Library of Congress →

Advertisement · 1919

“Territory going fast. Write today for wonderful proposition.”

The company recruits sales agents nationwide — “Sidney Hollow Ware Co., Sidney, O.”

The Pensacola Journal, Fla. · Mar. 9, 1919. Library of Congress →

Sources

primary · county history
History of Shelby County, Ohio (1913) — names “the Philip Smith Company” & its “hollow-ware department,” references “Philip Smith’s foundry,” and records the 1863 “Swamp Angel” cannon cast by Smith. (The same volume documents Wagner.) Internet Archive — historyofshelbyc00hitc. details public domain
secondary · collector guide
Boonie Hicks — History of the Sidney Hollow Ware Co. The fullest account: Philip Smith’s backstory & P. Smith Bro. & Co.; the 1886 hollow-ware line; the 1897 sale to Wagner (~$35,000) run by William H. Wagner; the 1903 sale back to Smith (who didn’t resume; retired 1907, died 1914); and the script-vs-block marks. booniehicks.com
secondary · marks/value
Cast Iron Gallery & WorthPoint — corroborate the script/block “Sidney O” marks and the identifying tells (size numbers, heat rings, light weight, frequent nickel plating, machine-polished surfaces). castirongallery.com
secondary · collector authority
castironcollector.com — Wagner — corroborates the Wagner side of the knot (acquired Sidney Hollow Ware 1897, divested 1903), already captured on this guide’s Wagner page. wagner.php
primary · Wagner catalogue (cross-ref)
Wagner Ware Catalogue No. 30 (1924) — lists a “Sidney” Tea Kettle & “Sidney” Pattern pot: Wagner PRODUCTS named “Sidney,” distinct from the Sidney Hollow Ware Co. Internet Archive — wagner-ware-aluminum-cookware-1924. details public domain
primary · verified negative
Internet Archive & USPTO — no catalogue, no mark. A sweep for “sidney hollow ware” returns only the modern in-copyright collector book; the “Sidney O” mark was never federally registered. So there is no period priced or spec datum.

Part of a citation-first cast-iron cookware reference. Companions: Griswold · Wagner · Lodge · Wapak. Confidence flags: ✓ primary (read directly) · ~ corroborated (reliable collector authority) · ⚑ to transcribe. The mark schematic is an original drawing showing lettering style only. Pre-1930 catalogs, patents & county histories are public domain.