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Ink Well????? | Pens220 of 220 |  |  |
Posted 3 years ago
happyone
(2 items)
I need help with this Ink Well? It was my Grandfathers. He stated that it was very old. He said George Washington era? He died in the early 1980's and he was in his 80's. He worked in the quarter master unit during WWII as an officer and had many antiques. Can anyone help me ID this piece?
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InkwellsInkwells are as old as the written word. The first inkwells were probably j…
It would help when you list items here to describe the mark in your text.
This is what my research finds:
This pottery piece dates to the turn of the last century. That would be 1900-ish (not from George Washington's time.) You should watch ebay for similar pieces to determine value. Inkwell collectors may value it differently than Zell Pottery or majolica collectors.
The mark on this piece is pictured on this website, along with info about the company -- GEORG SCHMIDER - ZELL POTTERY
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KhSXBIE3yKgJ:www.porcelainmarksandmore.com/baden/zell_3/00.php+zell+schmider+Steingut+Porzellan&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
They describe the mark:
Marks: A brown ink underglazed backstamp that reads Georg Schmider Zell A/H around a shield between 'S' and a 'P' (for 'Steingut' and 'Porzellan') inside a twig and leaves wreath. Also in brown the Date
Used between 1898 and 1928, registered at the R.W.Z.R. under file ?·32·440 on August 23rd 1898.
The company history:
Germany / Baden-Wuerttemberg / Zell am Harmersbach:
[1] : Zweite Zeller Steingut- und Porzellanfabrik (1859 until 1897)
The period before the founding of the second factory in the town of Zell am Harmersbach had seen a lot of changes as can be seen when viewing the history of the first factory that opened there and which by now had become the Zeller Steingut- und Porzellanfabrik C. Schaaff. Expanding industry in the area lead to the founding of a second factory for stoneware products in 1859, directly at the town gate in the Biberach direction of town and as the older factory was located on higher ground, the new factory quickly became known as 'Lower Factory'. One of the partners of the new company was Georg Schmider, who eventually took over all shares in 1897.
[2] : Steingut- und Porzellanfabrik Georg Schmider (1897 until 1898)
Shortly after Schmider took over the works the well-known artist Elisabeth Schmidt-Pecht designed the 'Favorite' series for Schmider and continued to sporadically work for him until 1914. Even if 'Favorite' was very successful indeed it could not beat a design which evidently changed the whole industry in and around Zell am Harmersbach: the 'Hahn und Henne' (rooster and hen) decoration was created in 1898 by chief decorator Karl Schöner to commemorate the birth of his daughter and it became the most famous decoration style from the area - in fact, it is still the most used decoration style even today. Success was overwhelming and Schmider had to drastically increase his production capacity to cover demand, so he took over the company of 'Schaible & Co.' (founded 1872), directly followed by Haager, Hoerth & Co. (founded 1818) in close succession during 1898 and renamed his company into the 'Vereinigte Zeller Fabriken', the 'united factories of Zell'.
[3] : Vereinigte Zeller Fabriken Georg Schmider (1898 until 1990)
In 1899 both the Upper and Lower works were slightly damaged by a massive fire that broke out in the middle of the town, only to be followed by another blaze in 1904. But Schmider was not put off easily as his products were a constant success and in 1907 he was finally able to take over the 'Upper Factory' from the Carl Schaaff company. Over the years the items from the Zell works were exported to Africa, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Holland, France, India, Italy, Norway, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. But not only self-marked items were sold; apparently quite a few goods were also sold as unbranded or customer-branded ware. One example would be from the period between 1907 and 1928 when the company sold at least one series of decorated but unmarked plates to the US importer L.D.B. & Co. from New York who also ordered items from a few other German companies like the Porzellanfabrik Moschendorf A.G.. The example for the 'Vereinigte Zeller Fabriken' can be found in the marks section below.
I have a oval shaped bowl with a hen sitting on eggs. the bottom of the bowl says: made in germany zell am harmersbach the number in the clay is 385 with a roman numeral II under it. Clues please, and thank you.