Museum - Guide to Identification of
Round Oak Heating Stoves

Did you find a Round Oak stove in a barn that you need identified? The Museum at Southwestern Michigan College fields many requests per year from people all across the United States (and even some global requests) and they all want much of the same information-how old is my stove and what is it worth? The images in the links below will help you date your stove. Standard museum ethics prevent us from providing appraisals, so we cannot help you there. We will say that they are sought after antiques and they vary in value depending upon model, condition and completeness of the stove in question.

What follows is some basic information. For more detailed information on identifying Round Oak stoves and additional photographs, the Museum sells the book Identification and Dating of Round Oak Heating Stoves. Follow the link to Books for Sale to find ordering information.

There are things you should look for on your stove before you start:

1. What kind of stove was it? The original Round Oak stove was manufactured from 1871 to the mid-1920s. From the late 1890s until the 1940s, Round Oak also made several other styles of stove, including the Air-Tight, Square Base, Double Burner and Base Burner. Open a link under the various stove types at the right to see an example of each.
2. What model is it? Stoves made prior to 1890 are difficult to date as they did not have a model identifier and the earliest known catalog is from 1892. Round Oak manufactured "date-on-door" models from 1890-96, which featured the year of manufacture on the bottom feed door. Round Oak stoves manufactured from 1897 until the end of the company in 1947 had a model letter, usually located on the lower feed door.
3. What do the numbers mean? The numbers (12, 14, 16, 18, 20, etc.) indicate the size and usually appeared before or after the model letter. The size of the stove was the diameter of the firepot.
4. My stove has “Estate of P.D. Beckwith” on the door. Does that mean I have P.D. Beckwith’s stove? The short answer is no. After P.D. Beckwith died in 1889, Round Oak was incorporated as the Estate of P.D. Beckwith. Beginning with the B-model stove in 1898, most stoves had “Estate of P.D. Beckwith” cast in it.

Identification and Dating of Round Oak Heating Stoves The images on the pages links at right were reproduced from original catalogs in the Round Oak collection at the Museum and appear in the Identification and Dating of Round Oak Stoves book which is available for purchase from the Museum which was written by Museum staff and is available. This book is a valuable reference for collectors and buffs in identifying and dating stoves made by the Round Oak Company between 1893-1947 including those linked below as well as additional images of Round Oak, Air-Tight, Square Base, Double Burner and Base Burner models.