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▪ Kalo Norse Line ▪
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The Kalo Shop was so successful that unlike many other period metalsmiths it never had to advertise or sell its products outside its storefront. Makers such as Randahl, Mulholland, and Didrich distributed their own signed work to outlets such as Shreve Crump & Low, J. E. Caldwell & Co., Hardy & Hayes, C. D. Peacock, and the Betteridge Company.
In 1928, Clara Welles decided to try creating a special-purpose line of silver items in the Scandinavian style that she would expressly sell through third-party stores. According to Robert Bower, who ran the Kalo Shop for three decades after Welles retired in 1939, "We had an arrangement with a sales organization to sell a wholesale line consisting of 40 items of all new Kalo sterling designs that were handwrought and of substantial weight. It was called the Norse line. All the samples were ready to go, then the market crashed in 1929. That was the end of the wholesale business." (American Silversmith, Summer 1992).
The items were somewhat more ornamented than Kalo's usual work (see the open scroll and bead work here and here), and very much in the Danish taste. They are relatively rare today. They were also signed with a new mark, KALO SILVERSMITHS. The example above, taken from the footed bowl shown here, is curious because it looks as if someone originally stamped the piece "NORSE SILVERSMITHS" but then polished off the word "NORSE" and replaced it with "KALO" -- perhaps the plan was to leave off the Kalo name and brand them as Norse only.
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Kalo Norse Line Index |
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Sauce server with wood handle. Round vessel on raised ring foot with slightly ruffled edge, which has three small bars of silver added and repeated four times around the rim as ornament. Rising spout. Carved ebony handle with matching three-line pattern. Nice joinery on handle. 3-3/8" H and 8" W rim to handle. Marked: STERLING / HAND WROUGHT / AT / THE KALO SHOP / NS 121 / 1/2 PINTS. |
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Bowl, round flaring, raised form with self-foot and applied wire on rim, with three short applied bands of silver evenly spaced inside rim. Hammered surface. 1" H and 5" W. Marked: STERLING / HANDWROUGHT / KALO / SILVERSMITHS / NS67M. |
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Bowl, round, low, on small ring foot, gentle flaring form with applied wire to rim. Hammered surfaces. 6-1/2" W and 1-7/16" H. Marked: STERLING / HAND WROUGHT / KALO / SILVERSMITHS NS17. |
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Sauce set, two pieces (2), consisting of bowl and matching ladle. Bowl is bell-shaped on small foot, with folded edge, five sets of four chased indentations around top of edge, and chased circle around top outside edge of foot. Engraved "Dorothy Frances / 1939" on bottom of bowl and back of ladle. Ladle has same pattern of four chased marks on middle of handle, three chased marks on coffin-end, round bowl. Bowl: 5-1/4" W and 3" H. Ladle: 6-3/8" L and 1-3/4" W. Bowl marked: STERLING / HAND WROUGHT / AT / THE KALO SHOP / 116. Ladle marked: STERLING KALO NS57. |
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Tray, card, small, Norse Line, circular form with small curving edge and heavy flat applied wire with five small flutelike indentations. 5-3/16" W and 3/8" H. Marked: STERLING / HAND WROUGHT / KALO / SILVERSMITHS / NS20. |
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Console set, bowl and pair (2) of candlesticks, large version. Bowl is flaring, on raised foot with open scroll and bead work base and heavy, applied wire on rim. Candlesticks have broad circular base with open work band featuring a repeated bead and scroll design supporting a small, flared cup. Nicely hammered. Candlesticks hand-engraved on the underside "BH DCL / September 24, 1938" Nicely hammered. Bowl: 10-1/2" W and 4-3/4" H. Candlesticks: 3-3/8" H and 4" W. Bowl marked: STERLING / HANDWROUGHT / AT / THE KALO SHOP / NS40L. Candlestick 1 marked: STERLING HAND WROUGHT KALO SILVERSMITHS NS42. Candlestick 2 marked: STERLING KALO NS42. |
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Console set, bowl and pair (2) of candlesticks, with smaller version of bowl normally seen in this set. Bowl is flaring, on raised foot with open scroll and bead work base and heavy, applied wire on rim. Candlesticks have broad circular base with open work band featuring a repeated bead and scroll design supporting a small, flared cup. Nicely hammered. Bowl: 6-7/16" W and 3-1/2" H. Candlestick 1: 4" W and 3-5/16" H. Candlestick 2: 4" W and 3-1/8" H. Bowl marked: STERLING / HAND WROUGHT / KALO / SILVERSMITHS / NS40S. Candlestick 1 marked: STERLING HAND WROUGHT KALO SILVERSMITHS NS42. Candlestick 2 marked: STERLING KALO NS42. |
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