Forensically speaking, How to Identify Rodney Kent Aluminum

I fell in love with Rodney Kent aluminum  when I was just a teen. All the women in my family had received pieces of this wonder line as wedding gifts. It was regularly used on the table for fancy family get-togethers. As my cousins and I started homes of our own, we coveted our parents serving pieces. I had the napkin holder and a casserole dish which came with it's own Pyrex divided bowl. One cousin had a beautiful large round tray. Another had square trays and a candy dish with a  red glass liner. We all wandered the thrift shops and resale shops, but not were more persistent than I.

So I introduce to you the first identification guide to Rodney Kent.

THE STAMPS

This is probably the earliest stamp, used before the moniker Rodney Kent (derived from two cross streets in Brooklyn at the then Krischer  Metal Products Company location) was created. This may have been used in the early 1930's. By the late 1930's or Early 1940's the Continental  Silver Company was already marketing their line of aluminum ware with a Chrysanthemum motif marked "silverlook." Advertised as an easy to care for, always shiny, never needs polishing product for the new modern housewife.

 

I believe this may have been used pre WWII before the US government tightened markings on products so they would not be misleading to customers. After all, there was no Rodney Kent Silver Company, product was manufactured by Krisher.

 

This became the predominant hallmark for Kirscher through the early  1950's. As the popularity of the Rodney Kent line waned, the stamp was retired as product without the trademark tulip stamp or the ribbon handles and tulip finals were replaced with first a sleek hammered aluminum line of serving pieces all stamped in the traditional 400 series of numbers and later to a series in the 500's with a sunflower motif replacing the tulips.

 

 

So here you have the four hallmarks of Rodney Kent aluminum. The numbers begin at 400 and go to at least 504....or at least that is the highest that I have found. Many of the numbers have been used three or four times. Many of what looks like the same product can have 4 or 5 different numbers. As I have collected, I have learned that while they are similar, shall we say, they evolved. Aluminum became expensive, product got thinner. Early stamps were large and clear and well engraved. Later stamps were reduced in size and the fine detail was not there. The ribbon and flower trim gave way to the simpler and less expensive to produce gros grain ribbon. But there was always attention to detail and almost  all pieces had glassware that they were designed for and the fit was exact. The craftsmanship was excellent. In later years they stopped stamping numbers on the product as they made more complicated items and packaged them in cardboard boxes with the numbers stamped on the box. Folded tags were attached with string. While most were Green, I have one that is blue and the closer that you got to the 60's, the more likely they could be tan. In the 50's color advertisements showing the many ways to use the item came attached to lids. Pyrex bowls changed and the lids changed with them. Besides Pyrex, glass came from Fostoria and Fire King.

 

The iconic Rodney Kent finally disappeared from production when the Jetsons filled the TV and the space age took over. A new line was presented to the market, Starline by Rodney Kent. An Anodized Gold and White aluminum set with stylized stars in a sleek ultra modern silhouette. So ended the Tulips and Ribbons of Mid-Century design.