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Used between 1872 and 1898, the "JTC" mark with simple "Bavaria" addition.
There are two different stories about the early years of the company and many sources copied Roentgen's incorrect statement that the first company existed between 1898 and 1902 before Thomas left. That however is highly improbable as the mark registrations for the "J&C" mark were applied for and filed under the registrar Porzellanfabrik Marktredwitz Jaeger & Co. c/o F. Jaeger in 1898. Also one can find advertisements from 1900 that clearly state Porzellanfabrik Jaeger & Co. only. In both cases it is obvious that the name Thomas at that time was already missing from the company name. Roentgen of course completely ignores these facts and prefers to hold on to his own view of things, including incorrect claims regarding certain distributor additions (see 'Comment(s)' below).
The company was founded in 1872 as small decoration company but soon started to successfully produce its own large array of tableware, coffee- and tea sets as well as giftware. During the first few years everything looked fine and even in 1897 'Jaeger, Thomas & Co.' received a brand new 90hp steam engine produced by the Maschinenfabrik, Eisengießerei und Kesselschmiede Heinrich Rockstroh, also located in Marktredwitz. But after various disputes with Jaeger regarding the product range and funding of special projects Fritz Thomas decided to leave the company and after extensive talks with Ens as potential partner finally quit in 1898, in 1903 founding the Porzellanfabrik Thomas & Ens.
Following the departure of Thomas the factory itself was slightly modernized and slowly expanded, by 1913 already employing around 400 workers. Over the years the factory flourished and even a small fire on February 9th 1923 could not hinder its progress. In the year 1930 the by then Kommerzienrat ("Councillor of Commerce") Fritz Jaeger employed 500 workers including those working in an own decoration studio in the city of München (Munich).
During the period until 1945 the factory had contracts with many US companies like Geo. H. Bowman Co. from Cleveland, Ohio, and directly supplied various US decoration studios like Caine's Studio from Akron, Ohio. Following the war however the Jaeger business mostly concentrated on the German market, trying to recapture shares it had lost in previous years before the war.
The year 1979 saw the factory and all assets being sold to the Sebring company from the town of Bari in Italy which itself was part of the Tognana Group. One may speculate why they purchased the factory in the first place as it was literally left to die, finally closing in 1986.
One of the many registered names owned by Jaeger was the "Ovid" trademark and even the "Diamant" mark addition commonly found on hotel- and restaurantware was registered as a standalone trademark.
Many items from Jaeger include the addition "GHB Co", and author Robert Röntgen states that this mark addition was used on items produced for George Borgfeldt from New York, ignoring plain facts and common sense. Looking at the full name of George M. Borgfeldt one can see that he did have a middle name but of course "M" is quite different from "H". Not that it matters as his middle name (or initial thereof) never was part of his company name. One only has to check out catalogs and other marks to find the simple solution: "GHB Co" actually stands for the company of George H. Bowman Co. from Cleveland, Ohio.
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Used between 1872 and 1898, the "JTC" mark with simple "Bavaria" addition.
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Used between 1872 and 1898, the "JTC" mark with "Malmaison" series name and "Germany" addition.
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Used between 1898 and around 1923, "J&C" mark registered at the RWZR under №·32·287 on August 5th 1898.
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Used between 1898 and around 1923, same as before but with "Bavaria" addition.
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Used between 1898 and around 1923, here on the "Freia" series.
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Used between 1898 and around 1923, here on the "Louise" series.
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Used between 1911 and around 1950, "Diamant Porzellan" above a crown above "Königin Louise". Used only on hotel- and restaurantware.
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Used between around 1912 and around 1917, "Portland" series with addition "GHB Co" (see 'Mark Comments' above).
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Used between around 1912 and around 1917, early "Dayton" series with addition "GHB Co".
(Picture: Fran Kerbs)
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Used between around 1912 and around 1917, later "Dayton" series with full "Geo.H. Bowman Co." addition.
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Used between around 1912 and around 1917, early "Findlay" series with addition "GHB Co".
(Picture: Fran Kerbs)
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Used between around 1912 and around 1917, later "Findlay" series with full "Geo.H. Bowman Co." addition.
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Used between around 1912 and around 1917, "Queen Louise" series mark with the distributor addition of "Geo.H. Bowman Co.".
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Used between around 1912 and around 1917, "J&C" mark with distributor addition of "Geo.H. Bowman Co." on unnamed series.
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Used between around 1912 and around 1917, "J&C" mark with distributor addition of "Geo.H. Bowman Co." on unnamed series.
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Used between 1912 and around 1950. Only on hotel- and restaurantware, registered at the RWZR under №·162·570 on July 29th 1912.
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Used around 1923. Combined marking including the older and the newer mark, separated by the series name "Copenhagen".
(Picture: Efim Levitan)
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Used between 1923 and 1925, peacock mark without "Jaeger & Co." addition, registered at the RWZR under №·304·767 on August 20th 1923.
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Used between 1925 and 1945, with "Jaeger & Co." addition, registered at the RWZR under №·329·646 on March 3rd 1925.
(Picture: Kate Potter)
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Used around 1930, the rare decoration studio mark consisting of the peacock marking above "München".
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Used 1940 on items for official use in military installations and offices.
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Used between 1946 and 1949, peacock marking above "Germany" and "US Zone".
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Used between 1949 and 1979, peacock marking in green with added "Germany".
(Picture: Priscilla Hoover)
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Used between 1949 and 1979, peacock marking in blue with added "Germany".
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Used between 1949 and 1979, peacock marking with additional production code number on two lines.
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Used around 1950, a shield topped by the initials "PMR" (for Porzellanfabrik Marktredwitz) and containing the peacock mark.
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Used between around 1950 and 1960, peacock marking above "Jaeger", "Bavaria" and "Germany".
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Used between around 1950 and 1960. With "Crown-Porcelain" and "West Germany" additions.
(Picture: Irene Bishop)
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Used between around 1950 and 1960, peacock marking above "Jaeger" (next to the series number), "Bavaria" and "Germany".
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Used between around 1950 and 1960, peacock marking with additional distributor mark of Ebeling & Reuss from Philadelphia.
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Used between around 1955 and 1979, with elaborate "Jaeger-Porzellan Qualitäts-Marke" addition used very early.
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Used between around 1955 and 1979, the previously shown addition was soon replaced by this simpler "Jaeger-Porzellan Qualitäts-Marke".
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Used between around 1955 and 1979. During the first years of this period the product code was noted in two lines (just as before).
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In later years of the quality mark period the production code had been restructured and only took up a single line.
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Used between around 1955 and 1979, another example, slapped on top of the company mark (quality, indeed!).
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Used between 1979 and 1986, the peacock marking with a big fat "Made in Germany" addition.
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