Woodbutcher wrote:Well the MIL went back today and looked more closely. It is large . It is on 4 feet. The inside is dished down or round as she described it. After a 15 minute conversation I am not really sure what I am going to get. She will go back and get it. I've wasted 20 bucks on weirder things then this. It could be awhile till I see her but I will post a picture of whatever this thing is.
When you first said oval I was thinking looking down on it I now think she was describing the side view which I would refer to more as bell like.
I bet I know ! Now that you described it as having the inside dished down and round. The bottom of the pot below is perfectly round , a jumbo softball would just set in the bottom.Here is my guess in the back of this group of some of my iron
Here is the same pot on the right!
They were called a Modlin or maudlin ( both spelled I am sure are wrong) and were used for boiling down jellies and jams. Often referred to (in error) as a bean pot.
They did not come with a lid originally as they were used to boil down the foods and the mositure needed to escape. However many adopted lids from other pots to cook other foods and even bake bread. We have made many monster loaves of bread in ours. I found a 10" lodge coal lid at a yard sale and it fit like a glove. They are great pots and it is probably quite old as most were replaced with aluminum in the late 1930's. Twenty dollars is a steal