Here's a question: who made the copper items for L & JG? On the website for Benedict Studio, OMS and Gus are mentioned. However, I just recently saw a large copper pitcher marked "L J G S" inside a triangle. It looked a lot like a Stickley Brothers piece; I don't recall in Marek's book reading of them making pieces with this marking. Also, I am wondering how rare these pieces are and how value compares to Stickley Brothers/ Gus. I can do a day's worth of research and find the answers, but I am hoping someone can spare me all that.

According to Bruce Johnson in Price Guide to American Arts and Crafts, there's not yet too much agreement about how deeply L and JG got into metal. He also mentions Onondaga and Benedict connection and suggests they may have dropped copper early on as it doesn't appear in any catalogs. My guess on value is more the the brothers in Michigan but less than Gus of New York (assuming equal quality, different mark).

I figured there wasn't much...maybe they did farm it out to Grand Rapids. I don't have a pic of the ewer, but it is rather striking. It has the angled spout like many Stickley Brothers pieces but has a bulbous, rounded bottom. The guy is asking $1500, but would probably take a grand for it. The downside is the original patina is gone.

Check out this link to an interesting article that Daltons has on their site where they talk about many of the marks.

Not long ago a pitcher with the cojoined L&JG mark sold on ebay for under $400. Seems that $1500 might be a bit high for the market. Not having original patina is not good and I would look elsewhere for an example of their work. It is true that items with this mark are rare.



Here's a link to another low price paid for a vase

Thanks for the info. Stickley Brothers made a lot more stuff; thus, collectors probably find it more attractive to collect. If I find my way back to that shop, I will take a picture of the piece: it really is very striking.

Intresting what you turned up there pricewise Fred, maybe the seller is thinking along the same lines that pieces with that mark are more rare and hence command a greater price? Of course something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, if it is as striking as Vintage says maybe it's worth it, to someone! BTW that Gus platter sold for 15K I think at the Rago auction.

Dano

Hello All,

L.&.J.G. Copper -- this is a great topic! I’ve taken the liberty of providing some commentary with images below in further posts.

Other than the obvious, a number of sources concur with you all that L.&J.G. Stickley did not produce much hammered copper. This is also supported by a recent conversation I had with Greg, the curator at the Stickley Museum in Fayetteville, NY, during a recent visit. There is no strong evidence that L.&.J.G. produced any pieces themselves. L.&J.G. Stickley was operating in proximity of a variety of active copper metal-smithing companies that were likely supplying the various needs of the company. This includes such N.Y. firms as OMS, Benedict, and Gus Stickley’s Craftsman Workshops. Also a day or two away were the Grand Rapids, Michigan metalworkers, exemplified by Stickley Bros. (but also Limbert and others). With respect to the Grand Rapids work, various Russian, Syrian, and other metal workers were directly employed by Stickley Bros., but also operated as independents. There is also evidence that former Craftsman Shop employees worked independently, most notably the shop’s talented second foreman, Valentine Kluge.

I've seen very few pieces of L.&J.G. Stickley hammered copper but what I've noticed is the great variety of hammering and styles. Most of the L.&.J.G. ‘table’ copper appears to be very reminiscent of Grand Rapids hammer copper, as already highlighted in this article. See the picture below of a marked L.&J.G. ewer that is almost identical to Stickley Brother ewer No. 81. Images of the former are from a recent eBay sale and the latter from Don Marek’s excellent book, Grand Rapids Metal Work. The L.&.J.G. ewer is slightly larger at 14 5/8 inches tall compared to the Stickley Bros. version at 13 ¾ inches. However, size variations were evident in pretty much all lines of hammered copper at the time. Was Albert Stickley selling Lee and John George pieces, or did the latter Stickley’s purchase from independent Grand Rapids workers? Or were these common designs produced in NY, too?

Some of the L.&J.G. bowls are reminiscent of OMS or Benedict bowls. See the following images of L.&J.G. and OMS bowls. Often the L.&J.G. pieces were unmarked. The image of a set of nut bowls is from the excellent book, Innovation and Derivation by Donald Davidoff. The OMS bowl is from the excellent website, Benedict Studios Copper (http://www.benedictstudio.com/pb/wp_57667a6e.html). Was Benedict/OMS producing bowls and other pieces for L.&J.G.?

L.&.J.G. lighting shares great similarities with work from Gus Stickley’s Craftsman Workshops (as did their furniture!). See the images of L.&J.G. and Gus lighting from Davidoff’s book. Was Gus producing hammered copper for Lee and John George? Lot’s of mysteries to be solved here.

As a point of interest, the L.&J.G. ewer from eBay pictured here sold for $338USD in March 2009 – a very good deal. Circa Vintage design, it would be great to see that ewer for sale for $1500 ($1000) – please post when you can! It would be nice is to see other images of L.&J.G. Stickley hammered copper, too.

Best Regards,

Copperoak

Another image of the front of the L.&.J.G. piece. The L.&.J.G. ewer is slightly larger at 14 5/8 inches tall compared to the Stickley Bros. version at 13 ¾ inches. However, size variations were evident in pretty much all lines of hammered copper at the time.

The L.&.J.G. ewer is slightly larger than the Stickley Brothers No. 81: 14 5/8 inches tall compared to 13 ¾ inches. However, size variations were evident in pretty much all lines of hammered copper at the time.

Here's the mark.

Stickley Bros. No. 81 ewer from Don Marek's book. Handle is iron, but the L.&.J.G. version almost looks copper (although not 100%).

Here's the text for the above image.

L.&.J.G. nut bowls. Unmarked and with similarity to Benedict/OMS. From Davidoff's Innovation and Derivation: The contribution of L.&.J.G. Stickley to the Arts and Crafts movement.

OMS bowl from Benedictstudios.com site.

L.&.J.G. Lighting -- very reminicent of Gus' work (from Davidoff's book).

Now here are the remarks to the previous image with a pic of a Gus light.