While the Kalo Shop produced the largest amount of Arts & Crafts silver, two other makers had fairly sizable outputs -- Lebolt and Randahl. Julius O. Randahl was a Swedish silversmith who worked at the Kalo Shop from 1907 to 1910, important Park Ridge years when Kalo was growing quickly and creating some of its best work. After leaving, Randahl and another ex-Kalo silversmith, Matthias Hanck, formed a shop called the Julmat (from the first syllables from each of their names), which lasted just one year. After this short-lived store closed, Hanck opened a small shop in Park Ridge specializing in jewelry (see below). Randahl founded the Randahl Shop, probably inspired by the Kalo model, with one important difference -- Randahl sold his holloware through department stores and jewelry shops rather than just from his storefront.
Stickpin by Matthias Hanck after leaving The Julmat with Julius Randahl
The Shop closed during the first World War, and when Randahl re-opened it he introduced mechanization. While some work was still done the old way, it was no longer a pure handwrought operation like Kalo. Randahl arranged for national distribution, and soon had 15 - 20 workers producing his holloware. The Shop did well enough to weather the Depression years (although Randahl had to mortgage his home) and prospered into the 1950's, when Randahl, now in business with his sons as the Randahl Company, purchased Cellini Craft, an Evanston, IL silversmith dating back to 1914. Finally, in 1965, the business was sold to Reed & Barton.
Fine example of Randahl jewelry workmanship
The Randahl Shop was really three very different operations. In its earliest years the focus was very Kalo-like. Much of the initial output -- objects like trays, bowls and pitchers -- were almost exact copies of Kalo items. Randahl like a lot of silversmiths probably appreciated the Kalo designs, and during his years working for Clara Wells certainly made a lot of them. These early pieces were solid and lovely.
Scandinavian-influenced cuff bracelet with tapering curved ends that are open in the back.
2-3/8" W and 2" D and 15/16" H. Marked: RANDAHL STERLING 103
Scandinavian-influenced link bracelet. 7-1/4" L and 1/2" W. Marked: RANDAHL / STERLING / 120
After the war years, Randahl began emulating Scandinavian designers like Georg Jensen, and much of the work had a distinct Danish taste. It also suffered in quality. Many pieces, destined for mass sales in the Shop's far-flung distribution network, were of lighter gauge silver, spun rather than hammered, and very pedestrian in design. However, some quality work was still being done.
Early Randahl pieces (left) were often similar to Kalo designs (right)
The Shop's work declined again when it purchased Cellini, and then one more time when swallowed by Reed & Barton. The early pieces carry the original mark -- Randahl's initials JOR with a stylized hammer running horizontally through the letters, and the words HAND WROUGHT. In the 1930s this was changed to RANDAHL HANDWROUGHT, and finally just RANDAHL. Some of the later JOR work is of clearly inferior quality, and some of the early RANDAHL HAND WROUGHT pieces were very elegant and well-made. But nothing comes close to the initial work done after the post-Kalo days.
Randahl focused on holloware, and produced little jewelry. A few pieces are shown below, almost certainly from the later Jensen-inspired days. They are decent but hardly inspired. The company doesn't have any trademark items the way Kalo did with its jeweled trays or paneled pitchers, but it did produce a series of interesting candle snuffers.
Randahl Jewelry mark:
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Older JOR holloware mark:
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JOR hammer closeup:
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JOR mark, no Hammer NOT by Randahl:
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Note -- from time to time we see pieces that have a JOR mark without the stylized hammer (above). These were not made by Randahl.
Item |
Description |
Size |
Marks |
|
Brooch, small, rectangular, with cutout bird looking over its shoulder under curving tree with beads and flowers at the corners. Heavy for its size. |
1-1/4" W and 7/8" H |
RANDAHL / STERLING |
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Brooch, oval, with swirling design of leaping dolphin surrounded by waves and beads, on cutout frame. |
1-7/8" W and 1-1/4" H |
RANDAHL / 56 / STERLING |
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Brooch, oval, with chased and cutout design of a diagonal flower blossom with stem snaking around in an S-shape surrounded by silver beads, and stylized floral elements at either end. Heavy. |
1-3/4" W and 7/8" H |
RANDAHL / STERLING |
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Brooch, oval, with chased and cutout form of two geese or swans facing each other with intertwined necks, on oval frame. |
2-13/16" W and 1-3/4" H |
STERLING / RANDAHL / 53 |
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Brooch, round, with chased and cutout blossoms, leaves, and fruit on a slightly convex circular frame. One of the largest and nicest executions of a Randahl pin that we've seen. |
2-1/8" W |
RANDAHL / STERLING / 67 |
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Brooch, long and thin, shaped like two stylized feathers or leaves with scroll ends and silver beads in the center. Heavy. |
2-7/8" L and 3/8" H |
RANDAHL / STERLING / 104 |
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Bib holder, gilded silver, composed of two rabbit-shaped clips connected by 6" chain |
Clips: 1-1/8" H and 1/2" W |
STERLING / RANDAHL |
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Bracelet composed of five square links with a floral motif. Each link is joined at the corners with heavy silver loops. Nice hammering. Safety chain. Heavy. |
6-3/4" L and 15/16" W |
RANDAHL / STERLING / 75 |
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