Rosenthal

Walk into a gift shop and look at the vases and dinnerware. The most eye-catching, most colorful, and most innovative are probably part of the Rosenthal Studio line started in 1961. Under the leadership of Philip Rosenthal, son of the founder, the company created new designs beginning in the 1950s. Famous artists like Walter Gropius, […]

Villeroy & Boch

Villeroy and Boch was formed by the merger of two ceramics factories in Mettlach, Germany, in 1836. Although most famous for Mettlach steins, the firm was also known for many types of porcelain, Parian (an unglazed porcelain resembling Parian marble), and faience wares in traditional styles. In the 1960s, it began to produce ceramics in […]

RS Prussia

The Schlegelmilch name is common in the Thuringia region of central Germany. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, several members of two unrelated Schlegelmilch families operated porcelain factories in the Saxony province. Porcelain production became a major export industry. Leonhard Schlegelmilch founded the Erdmann Schlegelmilch factory, named for his father, in 1861. Located […]

Royal Bayreuth

The Royal Bayreuth porcelain factory was founded in 1794 in Tettau, Bavaria, and closed in 2019. It made figural and souvenir items from about 1885 to 1915, but its most important products have been tableware and coffee and tea sets. Early twentieth-century lines include Rose Tapestry; floral, scenic, and portrait china; and the Sunbonnet Babies, […]

Marks With Crossed Swords, “KPM,” Or “Meissen”

The crossed swords mark of the Meissen factory has been copied by many firms in Germany and other parts of the world. The initials “KPM” can be confusing because other German companies used the same letters in their marks. Krister Porzellan Manufaktur, Kister Porzellan Manufaktur, and Kranischfelder Porzellan Manufaktur had KPM marks in the late […]

Mettlach Steins

The stoneware steins of Germany have been popular with collectors for years. The most famous steins came from the pottery factory of Villeroy and Boch, located in the town of Mettlach, Germany. The company, which is still operating, was founded in 1836 by Jean François Boch and Nicholas Villeroy. The firm made stoneware starting in […]

Mettlach Castle Mark

The Mettlach castle mark (1907) has the name Mettlach in the center and, around the edge, numbers telling the date, size of stein, decoration number, and stock number. Several types of improvements were developed at the factory. The company had a process for making inlaid stoneware, mosaic ware, or chromolith ware in which colored clay […]

Meissen The Town, Meissen The Porcelain Factory

The term Meissen is frequently misused. Meissen is a town in Germany where a porcelain factory was built about 1710. Over the years, country borders were redrawn by numerous wars, so although the Meissen factory never moved from its original location, its address changed to Saxony, then Prussia, and finally Germany. The word Meissen should […]

Hummel Marks

Mark Description Date Crown Mark (Trademark-1) 1934-1950 Full Bee (Trademark-2) 1940-1959 Stylized Bee (Trademark-3) 1958-1972 Three Line Mark (Trademark-4) 1964-1972 Last Bee Mark (Trademark-5) 1972-1979 Missing Bee Mark (Trademark-6) 1979-1991 New Mark (Trademark-7) 1991-1999 Millennium Bee The millennium Bee was a special mark for the year 2000. A different mark was used from 1999-2008 and […]

Goebel—Hummel

The F. W. Goebel factory was founded by Franz and William Goebel in Oeslau, Germany, in 1871. The company made many types of dishes and figurines. Then in 1935 Goebel put the first M. I. Hummel figurine on the market, and a new era began. The famous Hummel figurines were made in collaboration with Berta […]