Rodney Kent -- is it the real thing?

I guess I will have to leave this up to the readers....
My newest prize for my collection arrived in it's box and all. The box is marked "#480, ice bucket" with the Rodney Kent logo, the shield that says "Creations by Rodney Kent" on the box.  Not surprisingly, it is not the same quality as the one that I received from my uncle. The one that he received as a wedding present in the late 40's. The detail and craftsmanship were exquisite. The handles has the petals slightly curled and the center of the flower was rounded like a half moon.

The ice bucket that I had received weeks before was not like that at all. The pattern was not trimmed as clearly. The flower had less dimension. Definitely less effort towards quality. But I will let you be the judge

The original single flower  handle.

The single flower handle from the ice bucket that I bought on eBay. Notice the excess around the motifs, particularly at the ends of the ribbon where the rivet is.

The Nasco, Italy handle. This company copied many Rodney Kent designs with little twists that made some people believe it was a Rodney Kent design.

The tab handle on a Lazy Susan #471 that I received in it's original box from early to mid 1940's.

Another view of the ice bucket handle, with no excess and good dimension in the design.

Finally, the newest addition to my collection, the Mint condition, never used ice bucket that came in the box with the original tag. Notice that there is some excess but the dimension is improved and except in the corners of the petals, it has been trimmed clean.

 

 

What I think this exercise has shown it that the handles with the clean trim and the well rounded petals were produced no later than 1949 and that the ones with excess were produced after 1944 and before 1963, because that was when  the two digit postal code as seen on the hangtag was used.  The Krischer Metal Products Company evolved in both design and quality. In the thirty years that this pattern was produced, it went through many iterations.

Rodney Kent ..Is it or Isn't It?

A most exciting thing happened to me tonight. I bought a piece that may be the key to a puzzle. A brand new in box with tags ice bucket of Rodney Kent, but more about that later.

One of my earliest acquisitions was an ice bucket. In antique circles they refer to this as provenance, but this piece was given to my Uncle as a wedding present in 1948. I always loved it . He gave it to me, a no longer wanted item that was just plain old. I've owned it since the 70's. I also used it. It wasn't quite old enough to fall into that category of collectable. the lit was heave and the tulip stamp curled around the  4 petal flower finial knob in the center of the lid.  The bottom was otherwise unremarkable, with no Rodney Kent stamp. Just  two single flower handles.

The handles were well detailed. The petals had lines scribed in them and the flower center was round and raised. Each petal had a slight bend to it, curling up as petals do. It was impeccable. I used it for about 25 years and then one of the handles broke off. I was going to have it fixed, but in my usual way, I put the piece in a safe place and never found it again.

Recently, I came across another ice bucket at a very reasonable price and I bought it. I was very disappointed when I got it. While the handles looked the same, the quality wasn't there. The design was flat and there seemed to be an excess of metal that was never cleanly finished on the handles either. Dannie Woodward, of The Aluminist blog had told me once in an email that many of these unmarked pieces that had the iconic marks of Rodney Kent, were never positively identified as true Krischer Metal Products. An Italian company, Nasco copied many of the design elements. It could be from their line. I have seen Nasco, Italy copies of the casserole holder and the handles are very similar, although not the same.... at least not the ones now stamped  on the bottom with the Nasco stamp. That could be because they were forced to change or it could be that they were always different.

Which brings me back to where I started. Tonight I purchased another ice bucket. But this one is unused. It has the original tag, a red one in the shape of the ones used in the Starline  model from the 60's, which leads me to believe that it is a later model  AND it is in the original box with the number on it. The ice bucket is 480. So now I can see the quality of the handle and the construction of the bowl and lid and determine is it or is it not a real Rodney Kent. Maybe all three? Maybe just 2. To be continued.