Apart from the Kalo Shop, the other large and long-lived Chicago silversmith was Lebolt & Co. J. Myer Lebolt added a handwrought silversmithing department to his family's Chicago jewelry store in 1912.
Lebolt & Co. shop in Chicago's Palmer House, 1911
Close-up of storefront, from above photo
Like Randahl, Lebolt initially produced bowls, trays, tea sets and other holloware similar to that from the Kalo Shop, and like Randahl, the operation eventually employed a fairly large number of designers and smiths. The silver was sold at Lebolt's storefronts in Chicago (above) and New York (below).
Lebolt & Co. shop on West 23rd Street, New York City
At one point Lebolt also had a retail operation in Paris, which it mentioned in its upscale advertisements (see below for one from 1926). It is interesting that this ad featured pearls, probably because of their popularity at the time rather than Lebolt's expertise in working with them.
1926 Lebolt & Co. advertisement (mentioning a retail outlet in Paris)
While some of the jewelry examples below are very ordinary (and even awful), the firm did produce interesting gold work like the pendant with pearls and carved coral, and the bracelet with turquoise stones:
The earliest mark is LEBOLT / HAND MADE, which was later changed to LEBOLT / HAND BEATEN (the opposite evolution of the Kalo mark). Lebolt produced holloware and flatware in a wide range of styles. Like Randahl, Lebolt's designs and execution were at a high level, but generally a notch down from that of the Kalo Shop. However, on occasion Lebolt produced a few designs that rivaled those of Kalo, and many of its tea sets and pitchers are as good as any produced at the time. Considering the fact that Lebolt started as a jewelry store, it is odd that very few pieces of handwrought Lebolt jewelry appear these days.
Lebolt silver marks:
|
Lebolt gold mark:
|
Item |
Description |
Size |
Marks |
Pendant on chain, gold, with coral and pearls. Teardrop-shaped solid 14K back with carved and hand-worked scroll at top and curving loops at the sides and bottom that restrain a carved pink coral stone in the form of a woman's head in profile. Below are three freshwater pearls in hand-worked gold drops connected by small gold loops. Pendant is mounted on long delicate 18K gold chain with ten integrated freshwater pearls spaced on its length. |
2-3/8" H (not including bale) from top to bottom of center drop, and 1-1/4" W, on 16-1/2" L chain |
Pendant: LEBOLT / 14K
Clasp: 14K
Bale: 39AR (or 39AK) / 750 |
|
|
Brooch, carved bezel-set shell cameo of woman in classical clothing looking to the right, with tan background, inside oval gold frame with applied ropelike decoration around outside |
1-7/16" H and 1-1/8" W |
LEBOLT 14K |
|
Bracelet, 14K gold with turquoise, in an Americanized Art Nouveau style, composed of five oval links connected with two slender gold chains top and bottom. Each link centers an oval bezel-set cabochon turquoise stone surrounded by a different heavily worked gold frame (pictured in Elyse Zorn Karlin's Jewelry & Metalwork in the Arts & Crafts Tradition (p. 243). |
8" L and 1-1/16" W |
LEBOLT / 14K |
|
Stickpin, gold, diamond-shaped, with chased pattern surrounding bezel-set amethyst at center |
5/8" W and 5/8" H and 2-5/8" L |
14K / LEBOLT |
|
Brooch, buckle-form, large flat oval convex frame, with two applied curving prongs and small silver springs pushing against them from the back. Nice hammering. Heavy. |
3-1/8" W and 1-7/8" H |
[L in diamond mark] / LEBOLT / HAND MADE / STERLING / 417 |
|
Brooch, buckle-form, with flat oval convex frame and wirework spiral applied to one side that protrudes over the open center |
2-3/16" W and 1-1/2" H |
[L in diamond mark] / LEBOLT / HAND MADE / STERLING 422 |
|
Brooch, buckle-form, flat wide slightly convex rectangular frame engraved with detailed floral design |
2" W and 1-3/8" H |
[L in diamond mark] / LEBOLT / HAND MADE / STERLING / 83 / FRONT |
|
Pin, made of thick rectangular bar with beveled edges and three cone-shaped ornaments on top made of small round constructions of coiled wire centering small metal beads |
2-1/8" L and 3/8" W |
HAND MADE LEBOLT |