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, the mysterious 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, this is 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.
The two pieces shown here are atypical. As mentioned above, one is brass. The other is a simple bangle bracelet, but is the only piece of Novick jewelry we've seen. We'll be adding a considerable amount of Novick holloware to this page in time.
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Novick silver mark:
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Novick brass mark:
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Item |
Description |
Size |
Marks |
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Jardinière, brass, large, round bulbous lower section with flat bottom and high waist that tapers sharply to open top. Small ring foot. Dovetailed seam is visible. Turned-in rim at top. First significant piece of Chicago brass that we've seen. |
9-5/8" W and 5-1/2" H |
HANDWROUGHT / BY / F. NOVICK / CHICAGO |
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Bracelet, bangle, wide, with curved and tapering ends. Applied "MARGARET" to front. Heavy, and nice hammering. |
2-13/16" W and 2-1/4" D and 1-1/4" H |
STERLING / HANDWROUGHT / / BY / F. NOVICK / CHICAGO |
