I have a set of china that is marked “Saladmaster” over a sheild, inside the sheild it says “Estate” over the words Porzellan and under that the words Bavaria, Germany.
Can anyone tell me is Saladmaster the manufacturer or distributor and/or is Estate the manufacturer of the china. I am a bit confused.
[b]Saladmaster[/b] was a trademark of US household appliance company [i]M.H. Graham[/i] from Dallas, Texas. The company used it on their main product lines (graters, percolators, steamers) as well as on china they ordered from a certain manufacturer located in Bavaria, Germany.
“Estate Porzellan” was one sub-brand of that certain larger porcelain factory which used the sub-brand method to protect its own reputation and price span whilst at the same time allowing it to undermine regional full-brand contracts. A typical (and legit) marketing strategy, even today.
Some decorations (and decoration names) known from “Estate” were also used for other sub-brands created by the same factory; such items are not ‘copies’ or ‘fakes’ but legit alternate versions. As such, all of these china sets can be generally dated mid-1950s to mid-1960s.
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[i]Thanks to Chris of PM&M who allowed me to pull this from his archive. I share his opinion that the original manufacturer should be left unnamed here as it is irrelevant in this context and would only lead to further confusion.[/i]