Card cases were first used in England around 1800 and were made of silver and leather with fine gilt tooling. The earliest French cases, c. 1760, were made of gold, silver, and enamel, sometimes with ivory panels or beadwork. Eventually, every material imaginable was used and cases were produced until c. 1935. (more…)

Stangl ceramic birds were produced from 1940 until the Stangl factory closed in 1978. The birds were produced at Stangl’s Trenton plant and either decorated there or shipped to its Flemington, New Jersey, outlet for hand painting. (more…)

Erdmann Schlegelmilch founded his porcelain factory in Suhl in the Thuringia region in 1861. Reinhold, his brother, established a porcelain factory at Tillowitz in Upper Silesia in 1869. In the 1860s, Prussia controlled Thuringia and Upper Silesia, both rich in the natural ingredients needed for porcelain. (more…)

Sarreguemines ware is a faience porcelain, i.e., tin-glazed earthenware. The factory that made it was established in Lorraine, France, in 1770, under the supervision of Utzschneider and Fabry. The factory was regarded as one of the three most prominent manufacturers of French faience. Most of the wares found today were made in the 19th century. (more…)

In 1751, the Worcester Porcelain Company, led by Dr. John Wall and William Davis, acquired the Bristol pottery of Benjamin Lund and moved it to Worcester. The first wares were painted blue under the glaze; soon thereafter decorating was accomplished by painting on the glaze in enamel colours. Among the most-famous 18th century decorators were James Giles and Jefferys Hamet O’Neale. Transfer-print decoration was developed by the 1760s. (more…)

Royal Dux porcelain was made in Dux, Bohemia, by E. Eichler at the Duxer Porzellan-Manufaktur, established in 1860. Many items were exported to the United States. By the turn of the century, Royal Dux figurines, vases, and accessories, especially those featuring Art-Nouveau designs, were captivating consumers. (more…)