I don't know about you guys, but when I see an oblivion gate, I get in the fetal position and cry. I hate them; they're scary, they're diffucult, and they're everywhere. That's why I've taken to the hit and run method. According to this method, I enter the gate and run as quickly as possible to the Sigil stone. Maybe a little wimpy, but hey, it works. However, I'm a big fan of rare artifacts and I want to make sure I'm not missing anything. I heard about the special bow in the Chorrol gate but is there anything else? I you know of any such "Oblivion Prize" let me know please.

When you close the Cheydinhal gate and save the count's son, he will offer you one of the two family artifacts. That's the only one i know of.

Wanna good Blade? Visit Clavicus Vile's shrine, or even better Boethia's Shrine. Those blades would go nicely with Peryite's Shrine reward

About the gates: You don't have to close them all
Just the Main Quest ones. The way I pased the gates is by uisng my high Invisibility spell all the time, and eventualy stealing the sigil stone

I got a magnificent ring killing one of those mighty warriors of oblivion (can't remember name).
Ring of War (+10 to all battle skills)

There is the a Bow called Hatreds Soul in the Chorrol Gate that opens up during the Allies for Bruma Quest, along with some Arrows that soul trap and a Mace (Hatreds Heart) that has the same enchantment as the Bow. I saw the thread on this foeum and yes, it is there. The Mace and Arrows are in my Display Case in Rosethorn Hall as we speak.

When you first enter the gate you will see a Leaning Tower . Go north past the tower, and you will see two fingers stretching out into small islands, take the left finger and at the very end of it you will find a door to "The Fume Vaults" this door does not show up on your map.

Keep going up until you are in the tower, kill the Two Dremora Labeled "Hatreds Keeper" or something like that, take BOTH of the keys, and keep going up until your in a littleledge that has to "The Punished" loot thingys. But they're labeled "The Forbidden".

The Bow has the highest damage and a low weight (12 ponds) and it looks like a Daedric Bow, has 35 Fire Points, and Drain Speed 30 points for 45 seconds. The Mace has the Same Enchantment.

Otherwise things such as rings and whathave are pretty much just random loot scaled to your level.

I even came across a ring that gave me 100 percent resistance to shock, so you never know. Personally, I like the oblivion gates, its a chance to get some combat skills, some decent loot, and if you enchant a ring or clothing or something, it value goes up to like 2000 gold depending on what you made, so if you like o play Oblivion the honest way, its a great way to level up and make some money.

It's all in how you look at it.

There is a list of all items in TES4 and where they can be found here.