Vintage Gregorian Hammered Copper Small and 50 similar items

Up for bid is a Gregorian hammered copper watering can. Can measures approximately 5" x 7". The Gregori family whose copper facility became a well-known international business during its three decades of operation in San Clemente. P. R. Gregori, the artist/founder of the company, was educated at the Butler Art Institute in Youngstown, Ohio, and after WW II received hands-on experience at Craftsman Studios at Laguna Beach, California, an artistic commune in the 1920s that evolved into a facility that produced a wealth of copper products in the Arts and Crafts style. This experience inspired Gregori and his brother Fred to start Gregori Copper in 1946. (At the same time Harry McIntosh also left to form Vermont Copper Crafters, which ceased production in 1951 due to the copper shortage during the Korean War.) The newly formed Gregori Copper company began modestly in the garage of the Gregori brothers' parent's home in Capistrano Beach. In two short years, they were able to move into their permanent facility in San Clemente. Soon, Gregori Copper was shipping copper items all over the U.S. and to Latin America. While Fred Gregori handled sales, P.R. Gregori not only ran the manufacturing site but was also the artist behind the copperworks. He designed all of the copper products and even made his own tools and dies. Using large sheets of copper in various gauges, Gregori fashioned utilitarian but extremely beautiful items using hand tools and even a spinning lathe. Each object was hand-beaten and finished by an acid bath. Gregori developed a special bluing process that gave each piece a depth of color and then he hand-rubbed them with steel wool, creating either a solid copper finish or a satin finish. To ensure that the copper would retain its color, it was lacquered with a gun sprayer and then baked for 40 minutes. At the height of Gregori Copper's business, it employed 25 people and garnered annual sales of half a million dollars. In 1968, the company was sold to Sunbell, and the copperworks was eventually moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and continued to produce beaten copper products well into the 1980s