Large Novick copper jug drawing on his Russian heritage
While the Kalo Shop was the best known Chicago silversmith in the first part of the 20th century, a handful of others rivaled its output in quality. Large firms such as Lebolt and Randahl produced silver pitchers, tea sets, and other items of excellent design and construction, especially in their early years.
Several smaller boutique operations also earned a solid reputation. Falick Novick, Heinrich Eicher, C. H. Didrich, the Mulholland brothers, and a few others created pieces that can be hard to distinguish from those of the Kalo Shop. In the case of Novick, this is because many of the early Kalo copper bowls, and later, the Kalo Shop's large sterling trays, were made by Novick. In fact, after he went into business for himself he became known locally as the "tray man" who was commissioned to fashion beautiful silver trays for other companies.
Novick came to New York City from Russia in 1893 at the age of 15. Metalcrafters in Russia had a long tradition of producing heavy hammered copperware, and Novick started out as a coppersmith. He also worked in silver and brass. A large brass Jardinière of his is pictured below. We have a fairly extensive collection of Chicago Arts & Crafts holloware, and apart from a few small trays by Carence Crafters and one by the Kalo Shop, this is one of the only brass item we've seen. (An important Novick copper jug is pictured here.)
After a somewhat rocky start in New York, Novick moved to Chicago in 1907 and set up a shop there two years later. While some other makers' output declined over the years, Novick's remained consistently high. His small operation, which he ran with his wife Tillie, prospered for nearly half a century until his death in 1957. He sold his work from a small storefront and through other merchants such as Macy's, but turned down an invitation from Georg Jensen to market Novick's silver, concerned that a significantly increased volume might mean he wouldn't be able to keep his existing customers happy.
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Novick silver mark:
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Novick brass mark:
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Archetypal large-form Novick copper jug with hollow handle.
[Almost identical to object pictured in "Chicago Metalsmiths" (Darling / 1977), page 98.] |
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Copper jug, large, with flat-top strap handles, [provenance -- Ada Huncke collection] |
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Copper jug, large, with angular flat-top strap handles |
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Crumb set with interesting almost modernist handles |
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Large oval tray with wire handles |
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Large oval tray with strap handles |
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Round silvered lobed tray with arrowhead logo |
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Fine round bowl |
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Large round bowl with silvered interior |
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Large round bowl with pronounced hammering |
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Large low bowl with silvered interior and applied silver monogram |
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Round nut bowl with silvered interior and matching riveted spoon |
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Unusual centerpiece with candleholders at the corners |
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Brass jardinière -- of the more than 2,000 Chicago-School objects in our collection, only two are made of brass (the other is an early Kalo tray). Fine, large object with dovetail seam |
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Monumental footed bowl with repoussé work. Repoussé ornamentation on Arts & Crafts silver is rare. This is a fine and inspiring example. |
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Extremely large tray with repoussé work. Repoussé ornamentation on Arts & Crafts silver is rare. This too is a fine and inspiring example. |
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Early bowl with chased flower in the base.
Top example is by Novick. Bottom one, marked STERLING / KALO, is also probably by Novick, who made bowls and trays for the Kalo Shop.
Both of these pieces are exceedingly rare. |
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Cake tray, footed, with lovely hammering |
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Tea caddy, octagonal, with removable lid |
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Bowl, footed, with lobed sides and pointed tab handles |
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Bowl, oval, lobed, on wide oval foot, probably a sauce bowl |
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Large bowl with outward-pointing flutes |
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Large bowl with alternating large and small flutes |
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Typical flat-bottom fluted bowls with applied monograms signed by Novick [he also made nearly identical ones for the Kalo Shop] |
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Pitcher, high-waisted, with square-section hollow handle. For a more interesting pitcher that is part of a large set, see this. |
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Tray, massive, fluted, with wide strap handles and gold monogram |
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Oval tray with wide edge |
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Fluted small oval tray [he also made nearly identical ones for the Kalo Shop] |
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Massive round fluted tray [we have several of these with different monograms and they are extremely heavy and impressive in person] |
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Lovely pierced tomato server |
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Very nice trowel-form server with chased tulip at end |
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Typical silverplated riveted spoon |
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Ladles with applied monograms [he may have made nearly identical ones for the Kalo Shop] |
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Salad set with nice hammering, upturned end and applied monogram |
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Large and heavy salad set with applied monogram |
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Large footed set with lobed sides, applied W, and lovely flower-form finial and hinged lid on coffeepot |
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Coffeepot from above set [detail is repoussé flower on lid and finial] |
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Creamer with looping strap handle from above set |
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Sugar with looping strap handles from above set |
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Pitcher with arched square-section hollow handle and stepped foot that maintains the pattern of lobes in the main body above |
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Round tray from above set |
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Small oval tray from above set |
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Interesting and unusual candleholders with leaves and stylized berries |
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Low candleholders |
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Tall salt and pepper shakers with applied A monogram |
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Footed salt and pepper shakers with applied M monogram |
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Salt and pepper shakers with somewhat modernist streamlined look |
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Footed scallop-edge bowl with ladle |
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Dishes, dessert or appetizer, with fine hammering and applied gold monograms |
