They bid on two postcards from 1888 out of Dusseldorf.

The company Henkel & Co. (=today's company Henkel AG & Co. KGaA) addresses the Soap factory Mäurer & Wirtz in Stolberg (Rhineland) and asks whether a "Lots of empty oil barrels" is on offer, but then rejects this offer "because the price you asked is too high."

DatedDüsseldorf, the 5th May and 1st June 1888.

Each with Company stamp “Henkel & Co.” instead of a handwritten signature.

Format: 9 x 13.8 cm.

Each with a 5-pfennig stamp (not as a postal stationery as usual).

The Mäurer & Wirtz group today sells cosmetics and care products and is still based in Stolberg.

Condition: Cards browned, stained and rubbed; Corners bumped. Please also note the pictures!

Internal note: 2207 Ostb Mäurer & Wirtz few cards

About the history of the Henkel group (until 1938) and Mäurer & Wirtz (source: wikipedia):

TheHenkel AG & Co. KGaA headquartered in Düsseldorf-Holthausen, is a listed German company in the consumer goods and adhesives industry with global brands and technologies in the three business areas Laundry & Home Care (detergents/cleaning products), Beauty Care (beauty care) and Adhesive Technologies (adhesives).

Brands: Henkel is now active in the detergents/cleaning products sector with brands such as Persil, Pril, Purex, Weißer Riese, Perwoll, Fewa, Spee, Dixan, Vernel, Somat, Sidolin, Ata, Bref and Love Nature. The product range extends from universal detergents to special detergents and fabric softeners to bathroom and glass cleaners.

In the beauty care sector, for example, Henkel sells products from the brands Schwarzkopf, Syoss, Dial, Fa, Schauma, Taft, Gliss Kur and Diadermine and produces products for hair, body, skin and oral hygiene.

Henkel adhesives, sealants and functional coatings are used in a variety of industries, including aerospace, automotive, electronics and medical technology. The products are sold under the five brands Loctite, Bonderite, Technomelt, Teroson and Aquence. Henkel also produces adhesives for home, school and work. The best-known brands include: Pritt, Ponal, Pattex, Ceresit, Metylan, Sista and Tangit.

History: In 1876, Friedrich Karl Henkel, commonly known as Fritz Henkel, founded the Henkel & Cie detergent factory in Aachen. His first product was a powder detergent based on water glass, which he called universal detergent. Because of better transport connections and greater sales opportunities, he moved his company to Düsseldorf on the Rhine in 1878. In the same year, the company had its first brand success with Henkel's Bleich-Soda: While all other detergents were offered loose at the time, Henkel sold its universal detergent in handy packets. Sales of Henkel's bleaching soda grew so much that within a year the rented factory was no longer sufficient. Fritz Henkel decided to build his own factory with a rail connection and purchased property at Gerresheimer Straße 171 in the Flingern Süd district. However, the hoped-for and urgently needed rail connection could not be built due to terrain problems. The transport problems and principles of company policy caused Fritz Henkel to change location again. From March 1900, Henkel produced in Düsseldorf-Holthausen; The company headquarters and the second largest production site of the global group are still located there today.

In 1903, the Schwarzkopf company - which has been a subsidiary of Henkel since 1995 - brought the first hair washing powder onto the market in Germany, thus offering an alternative to the usual hair washing with curd soap or expensive oils. In 1906 the company Cordes & Co GmbH was founded in Minden an der Weser. She developed into a specialist in adhesives, later primarily in synthetic resin dispersions for the wallpaper industry. Cordes joined Henkel in 1970. In June 1907, Henkel brought Persil onto the market. This product was advertised as “the world’s first automatic laundry detergent.” In 1918, sil was introduced as a laundry rinse aid. Two years later, Henkel entered the cleaning and cleaning products market segment with the Ata brand scouring agent.

In 1921 the foundation stone was laid for a branch in Genthin. The most modern detergent production in Germany was established here in the 1920s. Expropriated in 1945, the factory became a state-owned company (VEB) of the GDR in 1949. In 1990, Henkel bought the factory back. In 1922 the production of adhesive for our own use began. In 1929, Henkel started marketing P3 cleaners for industry and trade. Surface technology became an important business area at Henkel.

In 1930, Hugo Henkel, son of the company founder Fritz Henkel, took over sole management of the company. In 1933, after seizing power, he joined the NSDAP (membership number 2,266,961) and served as a councilor for the city of Düsseldorf from 1934 onwards. The company's other supervisory board members also became party members. With multiple awards, Henkel was considered a model National Socialist company. The company opened the first factory for dextrin, an alternative raw material for adhesives, in Düsseldorf in 1934. In 1935, Henkel took over the Chemnitz company Böhme Fettchemie GmbH and was able to include Fewa, the world's first fully synthetic mild detergent, in its product range. In 1937, Henkel owned production companies in eleven European countries - after the Second World War, all companies were confiscated or placed under public administration. After Henkel had already received a patent for a “process for producing resinous condensation products” in 1935, the first synthetic resin glues were used in book binding in 1938.

Under pressure from the district administration in Düsseldorf, company director Hugo Henkel had to move to the supervisory board in 1938. In his place, Werner Lüps, eldest grandson of company founder Fritz Henkel, was appointed manager of the company. Lüps had already committed himself to National Socialism before the seizure of power and used his distant family connections to Hermann Göring for his professional advancement. Under his leadership, Henkel's shares in Degussa AG were increased, particularly after Kristallnacht.

Mäurer & Wirtz, founded by Ernst Mäurer and Andreas August Wirtz in 1845 as a soap factory in Stolberg, is a manufacturer of fragrance and care products and has been an independent subsidiary of Dalli-Werke since 1990. The family business is run in the fifth generation by managing partner Hermann Wirtz and managing director Stephen Kemen.

The headquarters and production location is Stolberg in the Aachen city region with approx. 300 employees. In addition to its own brands such as 4711, Tabac and Les Destinations, licensed brands such as s.Oliver, Betty Barclay, Baldessarini and Otto Kern are produced.

The main markets are Germany, the Benelux countries, Austria, Eastern Europe and China, Switzerland and global exports. Sales partners for a nationwide distribution network are the perfumery and drugstore retailers, department stores and department stores, drugstores and selected hypermarkets and online retailers.

Story

1845 to 1883: The history of the family business goes back to Michael Mäurer and his stepson Andreas August Wirtz, who founded the family business on January 24th. November 1845 founded a soap factory in Stolberg and on November 19th They received their license to operate in May 1851. Initially, only soft soaps, curd soaps and fulled soaps for the textile industry as well as fine soaps were sold in a grocery store for the local market. Over time, the products also became established in the Rhineland and later in neighboring countries (especially Benelux and France); In 1867, for example, the Aachen cloth factories were supplied with fulling soap. Shortly afterwards, soap products were sold in Paris and San Francisco through licensing agreements.

1884 to 1937: The production of washing powder began in 1884, and the first trademarks were registered around the turn of the century; For example, the “Dalli” brand was confirmed by the Imperial Patent Office in April 1884.

Andreas August Wirtz's widow, Apollonia Wirtz, acquired on the 22nd. In December 1888, the city of Stolberg acquired a larger area with the former Grünenthal copper farm. With a new factory outside the city center in 1889, the company initiated the change from a craft to an industrial company. The newly acquired space meant that larger boiling and lye boilers could now be purchased in order to increase production. In 1901, the newly developed steam heating system replaced the boiling boilers of that time. As the company expanded, the company premises became too small after a while. For this reason, buildings with a direct rail connection were built at a new location in 1913, which further drove large-scale mass production. A branch was also opened in Düsseldorf; In 1925 the company employed around 400 people.

1938 to 1989: In 1938 the company took over the Berlin soap distributor Döring Werke AG and the Viennese perfumery Riva, which then also became a permanent production location. From 1945, initiated by the managing director Jakob Chauvistré, considerations were given to the production of pharmaceutical preparations, which were further pursued in the laboratory of the Dalli-Werke, which was founded in 1945, and led to the founding of the pharmaceutical company Chemie Grünenthal in August 1946. In 1950 the company had more than 1,000 employees. In the same year, two independent business areas were created under the umbrella of Dalli-Werke Mäurer & Wirtz: Mäurer & Wirtz for soaps and body care and Dalli for washing powder.

In 1951, the men's cosmetics brand Tabac was launched, which is one of the best-known and most successful products from Mäurer & Wirtz; In 1952 the moniker Original was added. According to the daily newspaper Die Welt, more than 85 million bottles of this men's fragrance were sold.

In 1967, a new cosmetics and personal care range called riar was introduced, which was later discontinued.

Since 1990: In 1990 the family business Mäurer & Wirtz received a new structure, and Mäurer & Wirtz GmbH & Co. KG. was created as an independent subsidiary of the Dalli Group. In addition to detergents and soaps, Mäurer & Wirtz now mainly produces scented water and cosmetics. Since 1992, products have increasingly been manufactured through licensing agreements - e.g. B. Betty Barclay, Otto Kern and s.Oliver. In 2007, the company finally took over the perfume brand 4711 (often also called cologne), including the Cologne headquarters, from the American consumer goods group Procter & Gamble.

During the brand takeover, the rights to the perfume brands Tosca, Sir Irisch Moos and Extase were also acquired from Mäurer & Wirtz. In November 2011, the fragrance series from the Baldessarini and Windsor brands was also added, which was later discontinued. At the same time, the company continued to sell various own-brand perfumes.

Mäurer & Wirtz was hit hard by the 2021 flood in the region - the water, which was up to 1½ meters high, caused a power outage in the factory and brought production to a standstill for several days. However, business operations were able to resume a short time later.

Products and brands: Mäurer & Wirtz includes its own brands 4711, Tabac Original, Tosca, Sir Irisch Moos and Nonchalance, each of which offers a range of perfumes and other care products. It also produces products for third-party brands such as s.Oliver, Otto Kern, Betty Barclay and Baldessarini as well as white label products, which are produced in large quantities for discounters.

Corporate structure

Dalli Group: Mäurer & Wirtz GmH & Co. KG was entered in the commercial register in 1990 and is considered the operating company of Mäurer & Wirtz. The company's managing director has been since the 26th. March 2020 Stephan Kemen. According to its own information, the company has around 300 employees and achieved annual sales of around €178 million in 2020.

Several companies, such as: B. Cosmeurop Parfums, Théany Cosmetic, NewYorker Cosmetics, s.Oliver Cosmetics and comma Cosmetics.

Mäurer & Wirtz GmbH & Co. KG is an independent company belonging to the Dalli Group (Dalli-Werke GmbH & Co. KG) and does not publish its own annual financial statements, but is listed consolidated in the Dalli Group's consolidated financial statements; This company is in turn controlled by Hermann Wirtz, who runs the group as a partner as part of the fifth generation of the Wirtz family of entrepreneurs.

Social commitment and sponsorship: The company supports various local institutions and clubs. For example, For example, in a long-term funding project, full-day care was provided for low-income families. As part of the flood of the century in 2021, the company set up a joint donation account for affected employees.

Mäurer & Wirtz was also active as a sponsor and partner of the locally based football club Alemannia Aachen.