Georg Jensen

Georg Jensen opened his Copenhagen workshop in 1904 and quickly attracted designers of the first rank: Johan Rohde, Harald Nielsen, Sigvard Bernadotte and Henning Koppel among them. The firm’s flatware patterns, hollowware and jewellery were sold worldwide, with a London shop from 1921, and the company still produces many of the same designs.

What to look for

Early marks read GJ or GEORG JENSEN with “830S” or “925S” and, on most pieces, a design number. Pieces sold in Britain carry London import marks. From 1945 the mark is GEORG JENSEN inside a dotted oval. The design number is stamped on most hollowware and jewellery and can be matched to the pattern books.

What moves the price

Pre-1945 marks carry a premium over post-war production of the same design. Complete canteens for twelve sell for far more than the sum of odd pieces. Hollowware designed by Rohde or Koppel leads the market. Jewellery is valued by design number and condition of the stones. Post-war flatware in the common patterns is plentiful and sells close to its silver weight, which is worth checking with the calculator before consigning.

Dating a Jensen mark

More Jensen silver comes to a British saleroom than any other twentieth-century maker, and nearly all of the value question is settled by which mark is on the base.

The silver standard is part of the date. Danish silver was 826 or 830 parts per thousand before the war and sterling at 925 after it, so a piece marked 830S is pre-war whatever else is on it. That matters commercially: pre-1945 production carries a premium over the identical post-war design, sometimes a large one.

Every piece of hollowware and most jewellery carries a design number, which matches the firm’s pattern books and names the designer. It is the single most useful thing on the base.

The designers, and what each one means

Jensen is a house rather than a hand, and the market prices the designers separately.

Georg Jensen himself, and the early work to 1935, is the foundation: Blossom, Grape and the hollowware with cast fruit and foliage finials.

Johan Rohde designed the Acorn pattern of 1915 and the plainest and most sought-after hollowware, including the pitcher that still sells under its design number.

Harald Nielsen brought the range toward Art Deco with Pyramid in 1927 and Bernadotte shortly after.

Henning Koppel is the post-war name that leads the market. His jugs, fish dishes and Caravel flatware are the pieces where a modern Jensen design reaches auction figures well above its weight.

Sigvard Bernadotte, Arno Malinowski and Nanna Ditzel each have their own followings, Malinowski especially for jewellery.

What comes up

• Flatware, by the piece and by the canteen. Acorn, Cactus, Pyramid, Bernadotte and Caravel come up constantly. A complete service for twelve in its original canteen sells for far more than the same pieces sold loose.
• Hollowware. Jugs, bowls, dishes and candlesticks. Rohde and Koppel designs lead.
• Jewellery. Brooches, bangles and rings, valued by design number, designer and the condition of any stones.
• Odd post-war flatware in the common patterns. Plentiful, and it sells close to metal value. Weigh it and run the figure through the scrap silver calculator before consigning a small lot: the melt figure is the floor, and for worn single pieces it is close to the ceiling too.

What to be careful of

Jensen designs have been copied since the 1920s, and the copies carry their own marks. Anything reading “Jensen style”, or a Danish-looking mark without the dotted oval and a design number, is not the firm’s work.

Later reissues of early designs are genuine Jensen and are marked as post-war production, which is exactly what the 925S standard and the dotted oval tell you. Trouble arises when a reissue is sold as an early piece, and the standard mark settles it in seconds.

Monograms engraved on flatware handles are common and reduce the price of a canteen. Polishing has softened the cast detail on a great deal of the early hollowware; compare the crispness of a finial against a catalogued example.

Where to check

Georg Jensen publishes its own mark and dating information. The Victoria and Albert Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art both hold catalogued pieces with design numbers and photographed marks. For British import marks struck beside the Danish ones, the London hallmarks page covers the row.