Did you find a Round Oak stove in a barn that you need identified? The Museum at Southwestern Michigan College does not appraise or value Round Oak stoves. However, the images in the links on the left may help you date your stove.

In addition, below is some basic information to help identify Round Oak heating stoves. For more detailed information on identifying Round Oak stoves and additional photographs, the Museum offers “Identification and Dating of Round Oak Heating Stoves” for sale.

To identify your stove, follow these steps:

1. Look at the stove’s shape and compare it to the identification pages at right. What kind of stove was it? The original Round Oak stove (1871-1920s) was round and had a round base; the Air-Tight (1899-1947) was oval, short and had no firepot; the Square Base (1913-47) had a round body but square base; the Double Burner was similar to the Square Base but had a vent in the backside; and the Base Burner (1908-16) featured a nickel-plated and mica window body.
2. After identifying the type of stove, click on the link to see images of stove models of that type.
3. What model is it? Once you have identified the type of stove you have (Round Oak vs. Base Burner, e.g.), look for a model letter on the doors or other parts. Stoves made prior to 1890 did not have a model letter and can be difficult to date. 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.
4. Find your stove model and/or match your stove to the images provided. That should date your stove and show you how a completed stove looked when it was new!

Additional identifiers:

1. 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.
2. 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.