Rose Valley
The Rose Valley Association was a utopian crafts community located outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The colony was founded by William L. Price in 1901 and closed circa 1909.
Handcrafted furniture was one of the main products Price envisioned for Rose Valley, with designs featuring extensive hand carvings. A Gothic or Renaissance style was often used. Few case pieces were produced. Instead, Price preferred items with keyed tenons that allowed the furniture to be disassembled for shipping.
Rose Valley crafts and furniture were exhibited at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. Advertisements, magazine articles and a retail outlet in Philadelphia also provided key exposure.
It was a short life, however, for Rose Valley, with furniture production ceasing in 1906 and the rest of the operations closing down around 1909.
Rose Valley used a branded mark, “ROSE VALLEY SHOPS”, as well as a rose and the letter “V” enclosed by a buckled belt.
(Source: The Official Identification and Price Guide to Arts and Crafts: The Early Modernist Movement in American Decorative Arts 1894-1923 by Bruce Johnson.)