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We are pleased to offer you this rare and beautiful collectible

WÜRTTEMBERGISCHE METALLWARENFABRIK 

WMF Silver-plate Art Nouveau Box with gilding, signed! 

 Present Art Nouveau Box made in 1886-1903 years,  wood inside

Identifying Marks: WMF  , please look pictures 

Dimensions  : approx.   110 x 80 x 70  mm.

Represents the collectible value and could be a wonderful gift for yourself or loved ones.

Condition : good for its age.  Please look photos. 

We have detailed pictures of the item and they should be considered the part of description !

Please feel free to ask as a questions !

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Thank you and happy bidding !

 

MARKS OF EUROPEAN SILVER PLATE: XIV.

WÜRTTEMBERGISCHE METALLWARENFABRIK (WMF)

Marks of Hollow Ware and Trays.

WMF is the abbreviation for Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik, which in English means Wurtemberg Metalware Factory. The history of this foundry is well documented [1,2,3]. WMF was created in 1880 after the successful merger of two Wurtemberg foundries, the Geislingen factory belonging to Daniel Straub (Straub & Sohn) and the Esslingen factory of Alfred Ritter (A. Ritter & Co.). The first foundry was commercially more successful, while the second one was using a more advanced technology of galvanic silver deposition, which was first applied in Esslingen by the German chemist Carl Haegele (in 1871), the brother-in-law of Alfred Ritter. In 1881, after the retirement of Daniel Straub, Carl Haegele became the managing director of WMF. In the same year the Esslingen factory was dismantled and its equipment was incorporated into the Geislingen foundry. During the next thirty years WMF experienced a period of rapid expansion, which lasted until the beginning of the World War in 1914.

In 1886, WMF bought the Russian company of Roman Plewkiewicz (Roman Plewkiewicz & Co.) in Warsaw to establish itself on the huge Russian market. This WMF branch was mostly importing the base-metal items from Geislingen, performing silver-plating and then selling them in Russia under their own marks, see my recent article in ASCAS Newsletter [4]. In 1897, WMF acquired the Göppingen factory of nickel-plated wares (Metallwarenfabrik Schauffler & Safft), situated near Stutgart in Württemberg, and then the director of this factory, Hans Schauffler, became the next WMF managing director (in 1898) and kept this position for the next seven years, until 1905. The WMF board of directors also moved to Göppingen. In 1900, WMF took control over the Vienna foundry of silver-plated wares, Albert Köhler & Cie. This firm like R. Plewkiewicz company would stay under WMF until 1914 and would also produce items under its own mark. Finally, in 1905, WMF bought the controlling interest of the Cologne firm Orivit A.G., producing the items from tin-based alloys. The export of silver-plated table ware and domestic items continuously grew, which is testified by the publishing of WMF catalogues in three languages. Three consecutive editions of the English WMF catalogue were published in 1900, 1906 and in 1910. In 1914, the number of employees working only at Geislingen factory reaches 3500 and WMF became the largest industry producer in whole Wurtemberg.

A view of Geislingen factory taken from the 1912 WMF headed form.

The WMF silver-plated production made in around 1900-1910 is extremely popular among western antiques collectors. This is because these tableware and household items are considered as the best samples of Art Nouveau style, which is also known as Jugendstil in Germany and Secession in Austro-Hungary. Every year the famous London publisher Dorling Kindersley Ltd. issues an Antique Price Guide, which reflects the current situation on the British antique market. Inside this book two whole pages are devoted to silver-plated WMF items. At the same time, other renowned European producers of silver plate, such as Charles Christofle (France), August Wellner Soehne (Germany), Arthur Krupp Berndorf (Austria-Hungary) are not mentioned at all. On Internet ebay auctions up to ten thousands of silver-plated WMF are selling simultaneously. The corresponding prices often reach hundreds of euro or even more. Recently, Antique Collectors' Club published as a reprint the 1906 English WMF catalogue with an extensive introduction written by renowned German art historian Dr. Graham Dry [3]. This luxurious 400 pages edition contains the description of more than two thousand silver-plated objects of tableware and domestic utensils and mentions the price and quality of each item and serves as self-promotion for the best European Art Nouveau silver-plated products.