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Super rare and early bowl with awesome tooled leaf designs. The only one I've ever seen.
Value: too hard to value click here for a big pic. |
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Super rare and desirable Italian polychrome bowl with tooling and green highlights. About 8 inches by 1.5 inches. One of two I've seen. Like most IP pieces, has a small early mark with 2 dots (Jennings).
Value: No auction history, but estimated at $2500. click here for a big pic. |
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Super rare and desirable Karl Kipp bowl with tooling. About 6 inches by 1.5 inches. The only one I've ever seen. Sure looks later Jennings-ish to me, with its spun form, linear tooling, and polychrome-ish highlights. This bowl has the "Karl Kipp Hand Wrought" mark.
Value: Sold ebay 6/02 for $2,511. click here for a big pic. |
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Rare fruit or nut bowl with applied grape decorations. About 9.5" by 4".
This piece is a bit of a Roycroft odd ball. It dates to around 1915-1920 (doesn't appear in the catalogs after then) and has been attributed to Karl Kipp (the one in the Elbert Hubbard Museum has a KK mark along with the orb and cross). The "realistic" applied grape cluster decoration on these also shows up on a couple pieces in Kipp's catalog. It's heavy, silver plated, made with thick copper and displays wonderful workmanship. The mark on the bottom is early, but includes "Roycroft Sheffield". I would attribute the rarity (I'm aware of 6 or 7 of these kicking around) to the rather expensive price when new -- listed at $30 in 1919, more than just about everything except the big leaded glass lamps. Value: Limited auction history. I would guess around $2500-3500. One sold $5600 excellent condition ebay 6/04; $2300 plus premium Treadway 5/05.. Click here for a big pic. |
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A RoycroftCopper.com Exclusive! Rare variation on the "grape bowl" done in copper (without the silver plate finish). These are even rarer than the silver ones, and I think besides this one I've heard of one other. This one is from the estate of a Roycrofter. Personally, I prefer it without the silver. Value: Too hard to value -- no auction history. |
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Very rare STERLING bowl about 7 inches in diameter by 1 7/8 inches high. This is one of the few non-copper pieces on this site, owing to the fact that Roycroft made very very little sterling holloware (only a few pieces are known, but they did make a fair amount of sterling jewelry). The mark would date the piece to post 1920, I think, and the crimped design reminds me of the work Walter Jennings did on his own or even later at the Avon Copper Shop. But we can only speculate about the exact date and attribution of this piece. I don't believe there are any Roycroft advertisements or catalogs showing anything like this as regular production, so most likely a one-off or custom order piece. Note the hammering technique in the large pics below: Value: No auction history. Click here for a big pic. Click here for another big pic. Photos courtesy of Robert Rust |
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Fruit bowl with wonderful tooled design. About 9 iches wide by 3.5 inches high. In an excellent original warm caramel finish. (this exact color only seems to show up on this bowl)
Value $800-1,000. Auction prices $936 vg. silver finish ebay 2/01; $410 cleaned ebay 12/03; $735 good condition dark brown ebay 9/05.. |
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Rare, huge (19" by 7"), and valuable popcorn bowl with rolled rim. Special order for a New York camp (inscription). Refinished.
Value: Sold $7,500+15% Rago's 1/01. |
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Set of three rare 5 1/4" bowls made to accompany the popcorn bowl above. Refinished.
Value: Sold $2,200+15% Rago's 1/01. |
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Bowls with nice tooled designs around the rim. About 6.5 inches by 2.25 inches. Top one original Aurora Brown finish in excellent condition. Bottom one original Aurora Brown finish in very good-excellent condition.
Value $400-500 each. Latest auction prices: $290 worn brown ebay 4/01; $515 ex. cond. ebay 2/02; $410 vg cond. ebay 3/02; $394 vg cond. ebay 6/03; $455 vg cond ebay 1/04; $350 vg brown finish 10/05 eBay; $410 good cond. ebay 05/06. |
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Here's the same bowl, this time with an Old Brass finish in average condition.
Value $225-300. |
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Bowl with a crimped rim. About 6.5 inches by 2.25 inches. The George Ohr of Roycroft bowls, I've never really liked the funky design of this form. Original Aurora Brown finish in very good condition.
Click here for a big pic. Value $300-400. Latest auction price: this bowl sold $400 12/00 eBay. |
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Covered tobacco bowl. The proportions are great on this piece. About 5 inches wide by 3.5 inches high. Original Old Brass finish in excellent condition.
Value $400-600 |
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Covered tobacco bowl. Here's the same piece in an excellent original Aurora Brown finish.
Value $600-800. Auction prices: $500 good cond. brwn 5/00; $625 good cond ebay 12/04. |
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Low "flying saucer" bowl. About 11 inches wide by 2.5 inches high. Good original Aurora Brown finish.
Value $600-800. Latest auction price: $537 worn silver finish eBay 11/00; $560 gd. cond brass 3/02 ebay; $902 refinished ebay 2/04; $495 vg cond brown ebay 12/05.. |
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Low "flying saucer" bowl in a brass finish.
Value $500-600. Latest auction price: $560 good finish eBay 3/02; $511 fair cond. ebay 3/04. |
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Super rare and early circa 1909 small bowl with 3 sets of 3 cutouts. About 4.5 inches wide and 1.25 inches tall. This fully handcrafted bowl is enchanced with an artist signature -- the initials "ER". These almost never show up for sale, and the 2004 auction price for this bowl reflects that fact.
Value: Sold ebay 6/04 for $1,883. |
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Large 3-footed bowl with rolled rim. About 10.5 inches wide. Orginal Aurora Brown finish with some nice age to it.
Value $700-1,000. Latest auction prices: $850 vg. cond. brown ebay 7/03; the one pictured at bottom left sold for $787 ebay 10/3, condition was excellent; $542 fair cond. brown ebay 12/03. click here for a big pic of the bottom one. |
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Early nut bowl with a set of nut picks (the original set also came with a nutcracker). About 8 inches wide. The nut pick holder is riveted to the base which adds to the visual interest of this piece. Orginal Old Brass finish in very good condition.
Value $450-550 + about $20 each for the nut picks. Latest auction prices: This bowl sold low at $360 ebay 1/04. A refinished brown one sold for $425 ebay 12/03 (now which was the better piece? -- why the original brass one of course!). click here for a big pic. |
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Very rare large early bowl. About 6.25" by 3.25". Very heavy as the copper is quite thick. My favorite bowl. What's cool about early bowls like this one is that they were "raised" in the traditional manner from a flat piece of copper, rather than spun on a lathe and hammered for effect like the later ones. After collecting for a while you can't help but develop a real appreciation for the simple design, craftsmanship and natural color of these early pieces. Exceptional original heat patina finish with lots of character.
I call this mark the "big spindly early mark", and based on the fact that it shows up on only really early things, I think it might be the earliest "early" mark. Note the artist dot dead center in the "R". Value $700+. click here for a big pic. |
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Very rare large early bowl. About 7" by 2.75". Heavy and thick like the one above. Note the artist dot in the right half of the orb. Finish has been lightly cleaned.
click here for a big pic. Value $500+. |
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Very rare small early bowl. About 5" by 2". Really heavy with thick copper. Big spindly early mark.
click here for a big pic. Value $500+. Latest auction prices: $875 ex. cond. ebay 2/05. |
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A few early footed nut bowls. These are earlier pieces with nice form and workmanship. Notice the variation in color between these bowls. Early pieces like these were originally given "heat patinas" by holding over an open flame. As a result they reveal quite a variety of color. Generally they only get better with age, unlike the later lacquered Aurora Brown or Old Brass finishes, which I would say come in two varieties -- acceptable or ruined.
Value $600-700 (each, of course). Latest auction prices: $622 slightly cleaned eBay 3/01; $538 refinished 2/02 ebay; the one pictured with the matching nut spoon sold $936 for both 3/02 ebay; I paid $825 for a nice one along with 3 silver tipped nut picks 5/02; nice one with matching spoon sold $600 ebay 3/02 (awesome deal!); $721 ex. cond. ebay 9/04; $330 lightly cleaned ebay 2/05. |
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Compote with circular base. About 5 inches wide by 4.5 inches high. Original Aurora Brown finish.
Value $250-350. This item sold on eBay for $282 in Oct 1999. Photo used by permission |
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Low bowl. About 6 inches wide by 2 inches high. New brown finish. .
Value $200-300. Auction prices: $295 good cond. brown ebay 1/01; $327 fair cond. brown 11/03; $200 good cond. ebay 12/03; $315 well worn brass ebay 3/04; $376 vg cond. ebay 9/04; $355 fair cond. brass 1/07. |
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Small bowl crimped into a flower-like shape. About 4.5 inches wide. Nice original Aurora Brown finish.
Value $300-400. This bowl sold 2/00 on ebay for $370. Latest auction prices: $405 gd cond. brass 5/00 ebay; $362 apparently vg cond. 3/04 ebay. |
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Small bowl crimped into a flower-like shape. Same as above but with a silver wash. About 4.5 inches wide. Nice original condition on the silver wash.
Value $150-200. This bowl sold 11/02 ebay for $165. A pretty good buy for this form! |
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Small bowl with leaf-like designs. About 4 inches wide. Medium brown finish.
Value $300-500. Latest auction price: $510 cleaned ebay 2/02; $698 ex cond. brown ebay 8/03 click to see big pic of that one. |
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Small bowl with tooled band near the top. About 3.5 inches wide and 2 inches high. Nice original Aurora Brown finish.
Value $200-300. Auction prices: this bowl sold 6/00 on ebay for $290; another w/ slightly worn brown finish sold $196 8/00 ebay; $300 ex. cond ebay 5/01; $307 vg cond brown ebay 1/07. |
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Small bowl with ruffled rim. About 4.25 inches wide and 2 3/8 inches high. Nice original Aurora Brown finish.
Value $150-250. Auction prices: this bowl sold 3/04 on ebay for $190; another w/ slightly worn brass finish sold $163 3/04 ebay. |
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Small bowl, about 4.5 inches wide and 2.75 inches high.
At first glance this bowl would appear very similar to the one above. But look closer. This form usually shows up with the tooled band near the rim. However, this bowl doesn't have the tooled band, rather a rolled-over rim (and a more hand-crafted feel to it in general). Roycroft did very few pieces with rolled rims, so that means it's the early and rare version (and the one I'd rather own). This "violet bowl" is pictured in the 1912 catalogue. Has a nice big early mark on the bottom, and original early brown finish. Value $300-400. |
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Small early bowls with flared top. About 6 inches wide and 3 inches high. Here's the other small bowl pictured in the 1912 catalogue above. They called this the "flare-top" bowl. Not as poetic as violet-bowl, but certainly more descriptive. The finish on the one pictured at top has seen better days (and maybe a Brillo pad or two). The finish on the bottom one is sweet!
Value $175-225 for the top one, $250-375 for the bottom one. |
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Early finger bowl. About 5 1/2 inches wide.
Value $125-200. Auction history: one sold for $380 on ebay 3/02 (duh, it's a finger bowl); $170 ebay 2/04. |
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Roycroft called this the "Shallow Fruit Bowl". About 8 inches wide. Great original Aurora Brown finish.
Value $275-350. Sold ebay $336 6/03. |
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Small low bowl. About 5 inches wide. Nice original Aurora Brown finish.
Value $150-225. Sold ebay $228 8/00. |
