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uly 1913 was a turning point in the history

of the Roycroft Shops, Elbert Hubbard’s craft

community in East Aurora, N.Y. That month,

the Roycrofters published their first advertisement

featuring an electric table lamp with both a ham-

mered copper base and shade that was in actual pro-

duction at the Copper Shop. The new design appeared

among other lighting options in Hubbard’s The Fra

magazine, which extolled the Roycrofters’ ability to

handle orders for wrought-metal lighting fixtures

“with the completion of the roomy new addition to

the Metal Shop.”

The lamp is extremely attractive, with a tapered

riveted base supporting a domed copper shade,

adorned with conventionalized flowers and wood-

grain hammering, on four graceful serpentine arms.

Perhaps even more significant is that the combination

of hand-craftsmanship and machine production indi-

cates that the Roycroft Copper Shop was poised at

that time to evolve beyond low-volume handwork

and enter an era in which the Roycrofters could begin

to manufacture lamps in significant quantities for a

national market. This era would last for more than 15

years and provide today’s collectors with numerous

examples of more than 20 different lamp models to

pursue and collect.

Roycroft LampsShedding Light On

A century after their introduction,

these Arts and Crafts lamps still captivate.

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904

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PRE-PRODUCTION LAMPS

Before exploring the lamps that Roycroft began pro-

ducing in 1913, it’s important to understand what

came before. Although Hubbard established Roycroft

in the late 1890s, the Roycroft Copper Shop didn’t

advertise artistic metalwork for sale until around

1910. The Copper Shop’s modest output at that time

represented the endeavors of a few talented artist-

craftsmen, including shop founder and foreman Karl

Kipp and craftsman A. E. Fuchs. Many of the items

the shop produced between 1910 and 1912—includ-

ing vases and candlesticks—were done in the boldly

geometric style of the Viennese Secession. These

objects were entirely handcrafted and typically com-

bined hammered copper with German silver. The

lamps that emerged from the Copper Shop during this

period were no exception. At least two, stunningly

modern for their time, were advertised in The Fra in

early 1911. No examples of these lamps are known to

survive today, indicating they were probably made in

very limited quantities.

903

But significant seeds of change were sown in

1912, when Kipp left to manage his own nearby

Tookay Shop and metalsmith Victor Toothaker was

hired to fill his role. Toothaker had worked for Gus-

tav Stickley and created several lighting designs at

Stickley’s Craftsman Workshops. Not long after

Toothaker’s arrival at Roycroft, new lighting designs

began to appear in The Fra, including prototype

drawings of all-copper lamps in Toothaker’s distinc-

tive hand.

EARLY PRODUCTION LAMPS

The November 1913 issue of The Fra featured an

advertisement introducing lamps that would enter

long-term production at the Roycroft Shops. Each of

these lamps, and nearly all Roycroft lamps that fol-

lowed, was assigned a three-digit model number

beginning with the number 9. The three lamps pic-

tured in the advertisement were numbered 901, 903

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and 904. (Four additional lamps, models 902, 905,

906 and 907, were introduced shortly thereafter.)

Collectively, these lamps—each bearing either a

hammered-copper or leaded-glass shade—comprise

what we might call Roycroft’s early production lamp

designs.

The Copper Shop’s move to higher-volume lamp

production in 1913 was surely precipitated in large

part by Hubbard’s having obtained the commission to

provide metalwork and lighting for the new Grove

Park Inn in Asheville, N.C. Under Toothaker’s super-

vision, the recently expanded Copper Shop supplied

the inn with at least 300 table lamps with copper

shades. The lamps were in two designs: one featuring

a round, trumpet-shaped base and shaft, and the other

a square base and shaft. They essentially became

Roycroft’s first production lamps, with model 901

identical to the GPI version and Model 903 modified

slightly in scale. Roycroft’s Model 903 lamp was

902

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celluloid, and there is a fascinating and beautiful

example with a painted marsh scene between the mica

and the screen that bears a Karl Kipp shop mark.

With the exception of Model 904, which was

only made until about 1916, all the early lamp mod-

els were produced over many years. Model 901

appeared in the 1919 Roycroft catalog and was prob-

ably made into the early 1920s, and the other models

were produced well into the late ’20s, judging by

catalogs and advertisements. Although the designs

date to the early years of the Copper Shop, numerous

examples were produced in the shop’s later years.

Some bear the hallmarks of later production, includ-

ing lighter-gauge copper, somewhat superficial ham-

mering, lacquer-coated finishes and the later version

of Roycroft’s shop mark, which includes the word

“Roycroft” beneath the traditional orb and cross.

STEUBEN-SHADE LAMPS

The Copper Shop introduced four new lamp models

(911, 913, 914 and 919) in the early 1920s that com-

bined Roycroft hammered-copper bases with blown-

glass shades manufactured by Steuben, the art-glass

division of Corning Glass Works in nearby Corning,

N.Y. All four appeared in Roycroft catalogs and

advertisements prior to 1925, and both the base and

shade designs were unique to each lamp model.

Although it is not known exactly what precipitated

the marriage of Roycroft bases and Steuben shades, it

is clear that Steuben offered Roycroft a high-quality,

readily available shade option from a local supplier.

These shades also provided significantly more light

than Roycroft’s copper shades and were likely to

appeal to customers’ changing tastes.

The largest of these lamps, Model 911, measures

16 inches tall and includes three sockets under a

10-inch domed Steuben Aurene shade with an intar-

sia border of interlocking colors. The base design

represented a new direction for Roycroft lamps, as

well: it is composed of separate upright copper straps

riveted to a flat foundation rather than the earlier

bases’ trumpet, column or amphora forms.

initially offered in three versions, allowing customers

to choose a shade with mica panels, solid copper sides

or copper decorated with “conventionalized designs.”

Toothaker’s connection to Roycroft’s early pro-

duction lamps is clearly demonstrated by Model 904,

a design that appeared in a domestic interior water-

color signed by him and published inside the back

cover of Roycroft’s 1914 catalog. This lamp features

probably the largest base ever manufactured by Roy-

croft, with distinctive angular handles and decorative

rivets, three-socket electrical fittings and a conical

copper-and-mica shade. A similar base design was

also available in two smaller sizes as Model 905, with

three sockets, and Model 907, with two sockets. Both

of these lamps were fitted with leaded-glass shades in

a variety of colors—including the distinctive green

and purple used by Dard Hunter years earlier in his

lighting fixtures for Roycroft buildings.

Although models 901 and 903, and the small

helmet-Model 906, have relatively simple copper

shades, the Model 902 came with a rather exuberant

shade sporting a riveted acanthus leaf motif and a

band of mica behind fine copper screen. Versions were

also produced with plain mica (no screen) and plain

906

901

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911

914

919

913

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The model 920 or “round flaT rope base” lamp is abouT 16 inch-

es Tall wiTh a single sockeT base. The shade is a new replace-

menT. The model 921 or “Three fooTed” lamp is abouT 16 inches

Tall wiTh a single sockeT base. This example has a brass finish

and The shade is a new replacemenT very similar in design To

The original vellum shade. collecTors seeking roycrofT lamps

ThaT Throw plenTy of lighT aT relaTively low prices should

consider lamps like 920 and 921.

The Model 913 lamp is about 15 inches tall and has a single-socket base topped with a ribbed 10-inch Steuben Aurene shade. The base of this desk lamp is a more compact variation of the Model 911 design, with four copper straps with curled ends joined together and attached to a cross-shaped bottom with prominent ball rivets.

A somewhat similar strap-and-rivet design—but with a narrower and rounded base—was used on Model 914. This desk lamp measures slightly less than 15 inches tall, and its single-socket base was topped with a 7-inch Steuben Aurene shade with intarsia border. Perhaps the earliest advertisement for a Roycroft-Steuben lamp was the ad for a Model 914 in the February 1922 issue of Roycroft magazine, a successor to The Fra.

Roycroft’s Model 919 lamp differs from the other three combination lamps in several ways. It employed an unusual multihued Steuben moss agate shade rather than the more familiar gold Aurene. The single- socket base was a simpler hammered trumpet design, somewhat similar to the Model 906 base but with decorative flutes and a twisted “rope” edge. The tall twisted-copper finial was made by Roycroft and is unique to this model, in contrast with the commercial brass finials used in the other three lamps.

Later Lamps

After introducing the lamps with Steuben shades, Roycroft began advertising a series of lamps that typically consisted of copper bases topped with parchment or vellum shades. At least seven different models of this type appearing in advertisements and catalogs began around 1925.

These later lamp designs were for the most part variations on a round copper base transitioning to a narrow hammered-copper shaft. Many are somewhat more ornate and traditional than the early lamps, fea-turing flourishes like baluster-shaped turnings and rope-twist borders. Models 916, 917, 918, 920 and 922 fall into this category, while Model 921 has a

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three-footed base constructed from copper strips riv-

eted to a copper cup.

Four of the seven later lamp models are single-

socket lamps, while three are double-socket. (Two of

the latter were available in either single-shade or

“student lamp” configurations.) A couple later lamps

have appeared with original leaded-glass shades in

lieu of the standard parchment or vellum, so that may

have been an upgrade option on some models.

It’s not known for certain who designed the Roy-

croft lamps that appeared after 1920. However, based

on a patent awarded to Karl Kipp in the late 1920s for

a piece of Roycroft metalwork with decorative fea-

tures shared with many of the table lamps, Kipp

likely played a significant role.

MISCELLANEOUS LAMPS

A few rare Roycroft lamps defy easy categorization.

One example is the banker’s lamp, which may repre-

sent one of the three currently unattributed model

numbers (909, 912, 915). The short-lived Model 908

lamp, called the “Sheffield Lamp,” was pictured in a

catalog from the late teens and apparently had a

smooth spun-copper shade with a silver plate finish,

but no surviving examples are known. And an unusu-

al and possibly unique Model 905 variant with a large

acanthus and mica shade in lieu of the usual leaded

shade is currently in a museum collection.

A couple of very late-production lamps with

acid-etched baluster bases and leaded shades with

triangular panes have appeared at auction, and at

least one unique candlestick lamp is known, but it

also lacks a catalog reference.

905

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Roycroft collaborated with Steuben again in the

late 1920s by providing fittings such as base cups for

lamps with Steuben glass bodies. The Roycroft cop-

per bits are typically acid-etched and finished in a

silver wash. Although frequently sold today as “Roy-

croft lamps,” these are perhaps better considered

Steuben products, as they do not appear to have been

included in period Roycroft advertising.

The era of Roycroft lamps ended around 1930,

when the only lights shown in the Roycroft Shops

catalogs were a couple of flimsy hanging fixtures

fabricated from cheese graters and small milk cans—

a truly ignominious end for a remarkable producer of

Arts and Crafts lighting.

David Kornacki, a collector of Arts and Crafts metalwork for

nearly 20 years, is the webmaster of roycroftcopper.com and

frequently writes and lectures about Roycroft metalwork.

Collecting Roycroft lamps